Von Trier: Directed the original Danish series

King has written mini-series including The Stand, The Tommyknockers and Storm of the Century, but this will be his first full series.

The thriller will be screened first on American TV network ABC.

The show will include "shocking and frightening tales" centred on a hospital built on an ancient graveyard, ABC said.

In von Trier's original version of The Kingdom, a series of supernatural things began to happen in the country's most advanced hospital.

'Passion'

The staff's faith in science was weakened by occurrences like a phantom ambulance that pulled in every night but disappeared, voices that echoed in the lift shaft and a pregnant doctor's foetus that developed faster than normal.

Co-chairman of ABC Entertainment Television Group Stu Bloomberg said this series is "a passion" of King's.

"He is writing the first two hours. He might write all of [the remaining 13 hours]. He loves this project."

'Make it his own'

The series will bear King's distinctive imprint despite being based on the Danish version, Bloomberg added.

"He's going to make it very much his own."

Dreamcatcher: Could be turned into a film

The series will mark one of King's biggest commitments since being severely injured in June 1999.

He was hit by a van while he walking along the side of a road in his home state of Maine.

He suffered a collapsed lung, broken ribs and numerous pelvic, hip and leg fractures, and this year estimated that his medical bills, future surgeries and lost writing income would add up to $65m-75m (�46m-53m).

King is also writing and producing Rose Red, an ABC miniseries set to air in 2002.

Film adaptation

He is responsible for best-selling novels including It, Carrie and Misery.

His latest novel, Dreamcatcher, has already been optioned by the Castle Rock studio for a film adaptation.

The writer hit headlines last year when he decided to halt publication of his online novel, The Plant, describing most internet users as having the "attention span of grasshoppers".