Benedict Cumberbatch is to provide his voice for an upcoming Jungle Book adaptation.

The Sherlock actor will voice villainous tiger Shere Khan in Warner Bros's new version of Rudyard Kipling's story.

Andy Serkis is making his directorial debut with Jungle Book: Origins, which follows a boy named Mowgli who is raised by jungle animals.

The script has been written by Callie Kloves, with her father Steve Kloves producing.

It will compete with Disney's own new adaptation, with Jon Favreau directing and Idris Elba voicing Shere Khan.

Cumberbatch has also worked with Serkis in Peter Jackson's Hobbit trilogy of films, with the former voicing the dragon Smaug.

Jungle Book: Origins will arrive in cinemas on October 21, 2016, a year after Disney's version, which is released on October 9, 2015.

Coincidentally, this is not the first Khan that Benedict Cumberbatch has played, after he previously starred as the tiger's villainous namesake in Star Trek Into Darkness.