The tale of how Mick Jagger and Keith Richards were busted for drugs at a party is to be made into a film starring Nigel Havers.

A Butterfly On A Wheel will trace the events which began in a manor house in West Sussex.

Set in the year of the summer of love, the repercussions of the drugs bust split the establishment and sparked a national debate, including questions in the House of Commons.

The story began in February 1967 when the two Rolling Stones were arrested for drugs possession at Richards' manor house in West Wittering, near Chichester.

Police entered Redlands, apparently after a tabloid tip-off, to find a mixture of the band's friends and hangers-on.

Jagger's then girlfriend Marianne Faithfull was naked, except for a fur rug.

In Jagger's coat were found a handful of amphetamine pills, said to have been obtained in Italy where they were legally available.

Jagger was charged with possession and Richards with allowing his home to be used for drugs consumption. The trial in Chichester shook Sixties Britain and both musicians were found guilty.

Jagger ended up in Brixton prison with a three-month sentence and £200 fine while Richards was sent to Wormwood Scrubs and fined £500.

In the film version, Havers will play his real-life father, Lord Havers, who was the defence barrister at the trial.

The two-hour movie has been commissioned by the American network HBO. Nick Fisher, who created BBC Two drama Manchild, is reported to be writing the script.

The roles of Jagger, Richards and Faithfull will be cast next year.

The sentences prompted a backlash around the country. A leader appeared in The Times by editor William, now Lord, Rees-Mogg headlined "Who Breaks a Butterfly on a Wheel?" and questioned the rockers' punishments, noting it was "as mild a drug case as can ever have been brought before the courts".

The article said: "There must remain a suspicion in this case that Mr Jagger received a more severe sentence than would have been thought proper for any purely anonymous young man."

More outrage followed when the newspaper carried an advertisement in which 65 leading lights, including doctors, scientists, MPs, the Beatles, David Bailey and Graham Greene, called for changes in the law.

The advert was debated in the House of Commons. The following week Richards' conviction was quashed on appeal and Jagger's sentence reduced to a conditional discharge.