James Bond co-writers Neal Purvis and Robert Wade have signed up to write Barbarella. The TV series, commissioned by Gaumont International Television and directed by Drive's Nicolas Winding Refn, will revisit French comic-book writer Jean-Claude Forest's sassy space vixen made famous by Jane Fonda in the 1968 Roger Vadim film.

Refn's passion for science-fiction, especially the kitscher end of the spectrum, is well-documented, so when news surfaced last year that he'd be helming the TV Barbarella it wasn't hard to see the appeal. But it's interesting new terrain for Purvis and Wade, five times Bond writers and, as they were at pains to point out on the Empire podcast, emphatically not responsible for 007's invisible car in Die Another Day.

"I'm extremely excited that Neal and Robert have signed on to develop and write Barbarella with me,” Refn said. “I'm certain that the combination of our creative forces will produce a show that is as enthralling as it is sexy."

Refn will executive produce alongside Martha De Laurentiis, wife of the mogul Dino who produced the Fonda flick. Form an orderly queue here for the part of Dildano.