BBC Two has announced that Daniel Radcliffe and Bill Paxton will star in the channel’s new factual drama, Game Changer.

The one-off 90-minute drama will tell the story of the controversy surrounding the computer game Grand Theft Auto – arguably the greatest British coding success story since Bletchley Park.

The game offers players the chance to step into a fantasy world where they can behave like criminals, gun down rival gangsters and cops, hijack cars and venture deeper into an imaginary American underworld.

Its triumph was down to a bunch of British gaming geniuses who had known each other since their school days, and at the heart of it all was GTA’s creative mastermind, Sam Houser. In autumn 2013 its latest iteration – GTA:V – earned $1bn in its first three days, becoming the fastest selling entertainment product in history.

But the violent gameplay coupled with its outstanding commercial success leads to fierce opposition: from parents worried about children immersing themselves in such a violent world; from politicians, alarmed at the values they say it encourages; and above all from moral campaigners, who fight passionately to keep it out of the hands of children. At the vanguard of this crusade is the formidable campaigning lawyer Jack Thompson, a man determined to do whatever he can to stop the relentless rise of Grand Theft Auto.

Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter) will play Sam Houser and Bill Paxton (Aliens) will play Jack Thompson.

Written by James Wood (Rev) and directed by Owen Harris (Black Mirror), Game Changer will look at “the major impact [the game] has had on our cultural landscape”.

Are you looking forward to Game Changer? Let us know below…