Mike Leigh is heading back to his home city for his next film – about the 19th-century Peterloo massacre of protesters at a democracy rally.

The critics’ favourite, who has been nominated for seven Oscars, will start work in 2017 on the film, which will tell the story of how around a dozen protesters were killed and hundreds more injured when cavalry charged a rally demanding parliamentary reform at Manchester’s St Peter’s Field.

The event – dubbed Peterloo as an ironic comparison to the Battle of Waterloo which took place four years earlier – will be recreated by the director working with long-time collaborators Georgina Lowe and Dick Pope.

Mike Leigh
Mike Leigh (Dominic Lipinski/PA)

He said: “There has never been a feature film about the Peterloo Massacre.

“Apart from the universal political significance of this historic event, the story has a particular personal resonance for me, as a native of Manchester and Salford.”

Leigh, whose last film Mr Turner was his biggest box office hit yet, is currently working on a version of The Pirates Of Penzance for the English National Opera, which is due to open next month.