Colin Firth will take the lead role in the new drama

The drama will tell the stories of several characters who find themselves living in temporary housing.

It was commissioned for the anniversary of Loach's powerful 1966 TV film, which showed how an average family became homeless.

Nighty Night's Julia Davis and Anne-Marie Duff of Shameless also star.

Firth will take the lead role, playing a wealthy city worker trying to help people less fortunate than himself and getting drawn into their lives.

London

Provisionally called London, the drama has been written and directed by Dominic Savage, who made the 2002 youth offenders' drama Out of Control.

Cathy Come Home was one of TV's first "docu-dramas"

"This is a film about social inequalities, people in desperate circumstances and their intertwining different lives," he said.

"It's ultimately about people's relationships and the difficulties, dilemmas and moral issues they face."

The film will not be a remake or update of Cathy Come Home, said a BBC spokesperson.

Loach's drama sparked a national debate at the same time as the homeless charity Shelter was established.