The UK's Winchester Films is readying a feature about this month's audacious diamond raid on the Millennium Dome in London - only this time the robbers get away with it.

Producer Mark Thomas, Winchester's point person for UK films, has copyrighted a six-page treatment he wrote on the day of the bungled heist. Thomas, whose credits include Up N' Under, Rancid Aluminium and Dreaming Of Joseph Lees, is already negotiating for a writer to come on board.

Winchester's take on the robbery incorporates the facts known at the time of the raid but uses a team of international hold-up specialists who are brought together for the job. The film arm of publicly-listed Winchester Entertainment is to finance the action thriller and handle international sales and UK distribution. The company may team with a US partner for the project.

The BBC is also reportedly working on its own version of the foiled heist, although this may turn out to be a made-for-TV production. While Winchester's story is expected to be told more from the robbers' point of view, the BBC version is understood to focus on the role of the Flying Squad, which foiled the operation.