David Tennant appears as Alexander Litvinenko in first trailer for ITVX drama

Watch: See David Tennant in the first trailer for Litvinenko

David Tennant looks unrecognisable in the first trailer for ITVX drama Litvinenko, where he plays Russian defector Alexander Litvinenko.

The true crime drama tells the story of a murder investigation that began before the victim had actually died as it follows Litvinenko's poisoning, and in the series trailer Tennant is shown as the former Russian security officer reporting his own murder to British police.

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He says: "My name is Alexander Litvinenko. I need to report a murder."

Asked whose murder, he replies: "Mine."

Tennant is completely bald in character for the drama and is wearing a hospital gown, showing the effects of the polonium-210 poisoning that took three weeks to kill Litvinenko in 2006.

After defecting from his security role, Litvinenko and his wife had fled to the UK, where they sought asylum and he worked as a journalist, as well as being a consultant for British intelligence services.

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He had written a book about corruption in Russia which was so dangerous that he ended up being poisoned in what he had believed was a safe haven in the UK and in the trailer for the series, Tennant as Litvinenko explains what he believes has happened.

Telling police: "They want to kill me," he is asked by a detective whether he has a name for the poisoner.

He replies: "His name is Vladimir Putin."

Detectives Clive Timmons and Brent Hyatt, played by Mark Bonnar and Neil Maskell, are shown in scenes interviewing Litvinenko during his final days in hospital and travelling to Moscow to track down the people responsible for the radioactive poisoning on British soil.

The drama also tells the story of Litvinenko's widow Marina, played by Margarita Levieva, who continued to fearlessly battle for justice for her late husband after his death, persuading the British Government to acknowledge the role of the Russian State in his murder.

Litvinenko will be one of the first series to arrive on new streaming service ITVX, which launches on 8 December with Litvinenko available to watch from 15 December.