Fellowes tackles time travel film

Separate Lies was Julian Fellowes' first feature film as director

Oscar-winning screenwriter Julian Fellowes has signed up to direct his second film.

Dame Maggie Smith and Timothy Spall will star in From Time to Time, based on Based on Lucy M Boston's series of books The Children of Green Knowe.

The film tells the story of a boy's journey through time to discover his family's dramatic and mysterious past.

Fellowes - who won an Oscar in 2002 for Gosford Park - directed his first film, Separate Lies, two years ago.

Family mystery

From Time to Time will be a partnership between Ealing Studios and Lionhead Productions.

Ealing Studios managing director James Spring said: "We're very pleased to be working with Julian and such a talented creative team on this project."

The film is set in two distinct worlds, in times of war two centuries apart, linked by a single family and the house in which they live.

Thirteen year-old Tolly Oldknow is sent to spend Christmas with his grandmother, far from wartime London, where he becomes a witness to events during the Napoleonic wars and finds himself slowly drawn into participating in the drama.

Fellowes will direct From Time to Time from his own screenplay.