Robert Carlyle and ColinFirth are to star in Meat Trade, a darkly comic, bodysnatching horror writtenby Trainspotting author Irvine Welsh.

UK-based sales company TheWorks has taken on international sales to the film, which is pre-productionunder director Antonia Bird.

Set in the historic streetsof Edinburgh, the script is a contemporary re-working of one a gruesome chapterin city's history, the Burke and Hare body-snatchers. The infamous duo startedoff robbing graves and sold the cadavers to an unscrupulous surgeon, beforemoving on to victims who were still alive.

"We are very excited tobe representing this hilarious, macabre comedy," said Joy Wong, head ofsales at The Works.

David Aukin is producing withMark Cousins for 4Way Pictures, the production company he runs with Bird,Carlyle and Welsh.