A novel by late science fiction author Iain M Banks will be adapted for television.

Amazon Studios announced it has bought the rights to create a series of Consider Phlebas, a space opera first published in 1987, for its Prime streaming service.

The novel marked the first in the Scottish author's Culture series of books, which he continued writing until 2012 from his home in Fife.

Amazon's CEO, the billionaire Jeff Bezos, tweeted that Consider Phlebas was a "huge personal favourite" of his.

Describing the adaption, a statement from Amazon said: "A kinetic, action-packed adventure on a huge canvas, Consider Phlebas draws upon the extraordinary world and mythology Banks created in the Culture, in which a highly advanced and progressive society ends up at war with the Idirans, a deeply religious, warlike race intent on dominating the entire galaxy."

In an interview before his death from cancer in 2013, Banks, from Dunfermline, said Consider Phlebas was the novel he would most like to see on television.

He said the story, which features giant spacecraft and super-intelligent computers, would have to be adapted "with a very, very, very big budget indeed."

The author's estate will be attached as an executive producer of the show.

Sharon Tal Yguado, head of scripted series a Amazon Studios, said: "The story of the Culture is so rich and captivating that for years Hollywood has been trying to bring this utopian society to life on the screen.

"We are honored that we have been chosen, along with Dennis Kelly and Plan B Entertainment, to make Consider Phlebas into a television series we think will be loved by fans for years to come."

Mr Kelly, creator of the Channel 4 series Utopia, said: "Iain Banks has long been a hero of mine, and his innate warmth, humour and humanism shines through these novels.

"Far from being the dystopian nightmares that we are used to, Banks creates a kind of flawed paradise, a society truly worth fighting for-rather than a warning from the future, his books are a beckoning."

Other well-known book written by Banks, which were not set in the Culture universe, include The Crow Road and The Wasp Factory.