TV drama to revisit early days of disco

The next instalment in the American Crime Story anthology series will feature the famed Studio 54 nightclub, it has been announced.

TV producer Ryan Murphy will explore the rise and fall of the Manhattan disco, which became a world renowned nightspot in the 1970s.

Known for its lavish parties and rampant drug use, it closed in 1980 after founders Steve Rubell and Ian Schrager were convicted of tax evasion.

Studio 54: American Crime Story is in development now, network FX said.

It also announced producers Murphy, Brad Falchuk, Nina Jacobson and Brad Simpson are working on spin-offs American Love Story and American Sports Story, which will tell further true-life tales.

The first season of American Sports Story will portray disgraced NFL star and murderer Aaron Hernandez, while American Love Story is focused on the doomed marriage of John F Kennedy Jr and Carolyn Bessett, including the plane crash which claimed both their lives.

John Landgraf, chairman of FX, said: “When Ryan Murphy came to us with these two spin-offs and the stories for American Sports Story and American Love Story, we immediately jumped at the opportunity.”