Rose Leslie and Theo James to star in Steven Moffat's The Time Traveller's Wife

The series is the second major adaptation of the Audrey Niffenegger novel of the same name, following a 2009 film starring Rachel McAdams and Eric Bana, and tells of a couple whose marriage is complicated by time travel.

Deadline reports that Downton Abbey and Game of Thrones star Leslie will play Clare Abshire, the young woman whose husband Henry DeTamble has a condition where he cannot stop himself from traveling forwards and backward in time.

And DeTamble will be played by James, whose previous credits include lead roles in the Divergent film series and in ITV's Jane Austen adaptation Sanditon.

The series is currently in pre-production and no further casting has yet been announced, while it is not clear when filming will begin or when the show might be expected to hit our screens.

Of course, it is not the first time that Moffat has dabbled in time travel, with the popular writer having famously served as Doctor Who showrunner for six years, and indeed he has previously revealed that the Who episode The Girl In The Fireplace was a direct response to Niffenegger's novel.

However speaking to RadioTimes.com last year, Moffat said that there were not too many similarities between the two programmes despite the time travel connection.

“Time travel is kind of [the only connection],” he said. “It’s actually very very different.

“Although I happily riffed on the Time Traveller’s Wife a couple of times in Doctor Who with Girl in the Fireplace and River Song, actually time travel is a problem to the characters in Time Traveller’s Wife. They don’t want to be in that film. They want to be in when Harry Met Sally.”

You can buy Audrey Niffenegger's original The Time Traveller's Wife in paperback, on Kindle or in Audiobook form on Amazon here.

Looking for something to watch tonight? Check out our TV Guide. Check out our Sci-Fi hub for all the latest news.