The trilogy - Northern Lights, The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass - are a fantasy trilogy set in a parallel universe ruled by a senile god and a cruel church.

The most recent book, The Amber Spyglass, won this year's Whitbread Prize, and the books have become internationally renowned.

The series will be broadcast on 4, 11 and 18 January.

The child heroes of the trilogy, Lyra and Will, will be played by actors Lulu Popplewell and Dan Anthony.

Terence Stamp will star as Lyra's Father, Lord Asriel, and Emma Fielding will play her mother, Mrs Coulter.

The Amber Spyglass won the Whitbread prize this year

"I'm delighted that His Dark Materials is being done on the radio," said Pullman.

He added: "I've always loved radio drama - it can move from the epic to the intimate in a moment.

"I think the two youngsters who play Lyra and Will are terrific."

Helen Boaden, controller of BBC Radio 4, says: "We are absolutely thrilled to have secured the first dramatisation of Philip Pullman's enthralling trilogy. It's a great coup for Radio 4, which we hope will keep listeners of all ages absolutely hooked."

The books have been adapted for radio by Lavinia Murray.

It is the third adaptation of the books to be announced.

The National Theatre is taking them to the stage sometime in 2004.

Courted controversy

And Hollywood has also fallen for the Oxford-based writer's books; New Line, the studio that is producing Peter Jackson's Lord Of The Rings movies, has optioned Northern Lights.

The movie is being scripted by playwright Tom Stoppard.

Pullman's books have courted controversy from some religious circles because of the way they parody Christian religions.

The Catholic Herald newspaper called the books "the stuff of nightmares".

There has also been opposition amongst the religious right in the US. But it has not stopped Pullman's books selling over three million copies in America.