The director of the Oscar-winning 12 Years a Slave, Steve McQueen, is to open this year’s BFI London Film Festival with the international premiere of his next film, Widows.

Starring Viola Davis, Michelle Rodriguez, Elizabeth Debicki, Colin Farrell, Daniel Kaluuya and Liam Neeson, the adaptation of Lynda La Plante’s 1980s ITV series tells the story of a group of women drawn together by the debt left behind by the crimes of their dead husbands.

Expressing his delight at being selected to open the festival, McQueen – who was honoured with a BFI Fellowship at the 2016 London Film Festival – said that watching the original TV version as a teenager had had a major impact on him.

The BFI’s Tricia Tuttle, who’s running the festival while the Head of Festivals Clare Stewart is on a sabbatical, said: “This is scintillatingly rich storytelling from a magnificent filmmaker, probing issues around race, class and gender, while always delivering immense style and crackingly sharp thrills.”

The film will be screened at the Cineworld Leicester Square on 10th October. The BFI will announce the  film to close the festival, on 21st October, at a later date.