I do hope Colin Firth will come back for a repeat of his lovely performance

Helen Fielding

Working Title is reported to have paid in excess of $1m (�700,000) for the rights to The Edge Of Reason by Helen Fielding.

The Bridget Jones movie, starring Renee Zellweger, Hugh Grant and Colin Firth, is number one in both the US and the UK.

Fielding's agent confirmed to BBC News Online that Working Title had bought the movie rights, but would not divulge the value of the deal.

Bridget Jones's Diary looks set to become the most successful British film ever made, eclipsing Notting Hill.

Colin conundrum

However, one problem the sequel would face is the appearance of actor Colin Firth as both himself and as character Mark Darcy.

Will actor Colin Firth appear as himself in the sequel?

In The Edge of Reason, Bridget Jones splits from barrister Darcy and sets out to become a journalist by interviewing actor Colin Firth.

Her later exploits see her incarcerated in a Thai prison.

Daily Variety reports that The Edge of Reason will not be adapted for the screen by Fielding, who wrote the screenplay for the current box-office hit.

"I wrote the part of Mark Darcy for Colin Firth and I do hope he will come back for a repeat of his lovely performance," Fielding told Daily Variety.

"If he does, he will simply have to don a large beard and handlebar moustache and play himself."

Bridget Jones's Diary taken more than $25m (�17m) at the US box office, where it is currently number one ahead of children's drama Spy Kids and thriller Along Came A Spider, which stars Morgan Freeman.

It has also held on to the top of the box office chart in the UK and Ireland for a second week.