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Punch-ups, dogged determination and a steamy love triangle among the Pyramids – a thrilling new series about the search for Tutankhamun’s tomb has it all...

Don’t miss a thing with our 52-page guide, featuring a preview of ITV’s steamy new series about lust among the tombs in the Egyptian desert

On the one hand it’s a battle against the odds to make the most sensational archaeological discovery ever. But it’s also a tale of love and lust in the searing Egyptian heat. And at the centre of it all in ITV’s thrilling four-part drama Tutankhamun is Howard Carter, a handsome Brit convinced that the tomb of the Egyptian boy king is waiting to be discovered.

Fellow archaeologists think he’s deluded and only his unerring determination, plus the love and support of the women in his life, keep his dream alive. ‘He’s fighting pretty much everyone from day one – sometimes literally,’ says Max Irons, who plays Carter. ‘One of the first scenes takes us back to 1905 with Carter emerging from an unsuccessful dig in the Valley Of The Kings, getting into a row with a French duke and punching him square in the face.

‘It leads to him having his licence revoked by the Egyptian authorities. That could have been the end of the story but Carter was made of sterner stuff.’

He also gets lucky. Tutankhamun, filmed largely in a dust-filled valley on the border of South Afr ica and Namibia, reveals how Carter struck up a friendship with the fast-living British aristocrat Lord Carnarvon, who funded his search for a jewel- laden tomb untouched for more than 3,000 years.

‘Carnarvon had been playing at archaeology until Carter came along,’ reveals Sam Neill, who plays the aristocrat. ‘Carter may have been hot-headed but he was a first-class archaeologist with an absolute belief that he was on to something. Carnarvon was prepared to back him, even when all those around him were saying he was wasting his money.’

In this week’s opening episode, a chance discovery during a random dig funded by Lord Carnarvon puts Carter on the trail of the boy king’s tomb. ‘The US archaeologist Maggie Lewis finds a cup which has Tutankhamun’s name inscribed on it,’ explains Max Irons. ‘That piques Carter’s interest and is the starting point for the discovery.’

Lewis and Carter become friends and would like to take the relationship further. But matters are complicated by the arrival of Carnarvon’s daughter, Evelyn. The first episode sees a close friendship developing between her and Carter, which heats up later on.

This part of writer Guy Burt’s story has caused controversy. Lord Carnarvon’s great-grandson says talk of lust in the dust between the pair is rubbish. ‘It just didn’t happen,’ says the current Lord Carnarvon. ‘ There was no romance between Carter and my

great- aunt Evelyn. Carter was so absorbed in his work, he was something of a stoical loner.’

But Guy Burt says, ‘The documentary evidence and letters exchanged by the key players hint that the relationship between Carter and Evelyn may have been deeper than just friendship.’

It is Evelyn who backs Carter when her father starts to lose faith in the search for King Tut’s tomb, persuad- ing him to give the archaeologist a final chunk of time and money. ‘History would have been very different had Lord Carnarvon not kept faith,’ says Max, son of actor Jeremy Irons. ‘Along with Tutankhamun’s tomb, Carter’s dream would have been lost forever amid the sand and dust of the Valley Of The Kings.’

Tutankhamun, tomorrow, 9pm, ITV.

This is a caption This is a caption This is a caption An aristocratThisis a caption with a passionThisisa caption for fastThiscarsis a caption and horseThis is a caption racing, the real Lord Carnarvon came to Egypt initially just to recover from a...

HOWARD CARTER (Max Irons) The Londonborn son of an artist, in real life he was working on archaeological digs in Egypt at just 17, and discovered Tutankhamun’s tomb aged 48.