David Tennant is to play Craig Murray, the colourful former British ambassador to Uzbekistan, in a new BBC Radio 4 play.

The acclaimed Doctor Who star will depict the “flawed hero” Murray – who left his wife of 20 years for a Uzbek girl half his age while in post – in a radio play by the respected political director David Hare.

The role will be one of Tennant’s first parts since stepping down as the Doctor at the end of last year.

Murray was withdrawn from Uzbekistan in 2004 after the Foreign Office became frustrated with his vociferous criticism of human rights abuses in the former Soviet country.

He also accused Britain of using intelligence extracted under torture by the Uzbek regime.

Since then he has become one of the most outspoken opponents of British foreign policy, standing against his former boss Jack Straw in the 2005 general election.

But his reputation has been tainted by reports that he reguarly attended nightclubs while stationed in Tashkent, and by his affair with a young lapdancer Nadira Alieva who he married last year.

Hare’s script is an adaptation of Murray’s own book Murder in Samarkand, but the BBC insisted that the play not be uncritical. Hare has travelled to Tashkent to speak to people who knew Murray in person as part of his research.

Jeremy Howe, Radio 4′s commissioning editor, told The Guardian: “It’s a great story about a flawed hero in which you admire and despair of Craig Murray in equal measures, and that’s what gives the piece its energy.”

Murray told the newspaper: “Obviously I’m delighted David Tennant was me, it’s a tremendous honour in many ways. I’ve been a huge Doctor Who fan all my life.”

The play will be broadcast on Feb 20.

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