Steven Spielberg buys rights to lottery drama

Director Steven Spielberg has snapped up the rights to a TV drama about fictional lottery winners after becoming an "avid fan" of the show.

The moviemaker and his wife Kate Capshaw loved BBC series The Syndicate, which featured Harry Potter stars Timothy Spall and Matthew Lewis, so he got in contact with the show's writer Kay Mellor about developing the series for an American audience.

Spielberg is now in the process of making a U.S. pilot episode, and Mellor is thrilled about the development.

She tells The Sun newspaper, "He told me that he and his wife were avid fans of the show and he is now having a pilot episode written for US network ABC, based on the British version.

"He certainly knew everything about the show, which is perhaps not that surprising if he'd watched each episode three times."

Mellor admits she thought she was the victim of a hoax when she was told of Spielberg's interest, adding, "My agent said he wanted my mobile phone number, but after four days of waiting for Steven to ring I thought it must be a joke.

"Then he called me when I was sitting at my kitchen table in casual clothes and slippers, working on the script for The Syndicate 2!

"He roared with laughter when I told him what I was wearing and I promised to send him a picture of me in my slippers - which I did!"