Sherlock star Benedict Cumberbatch has signed up to play Brian Epstein in a new film about the Beatles" manager.

It is being co-produced by Oscar-winning actor Tom Hanks.

Epstein - who has been dubbed the fifth Beatle - struggled with gambling and drug addictions and was a closet homosexual. 

He was found dead at his Belgravia home in London at the age of 32, following an overdose of sleeping pills.