Diana tapes to be broadcast

The princess collaborated with Morton on his explosive book

LONDON, England -- Diana, Princess of Wales, is set to speak from beyond the grave.

Tapes she recorded for her tell-all book with Andrew Morton are to be aired for the first time on American television.

Extracts from the recordings, in which she spoke of her unhappy marriage to the Prince of Wales and her suicide bids, are included as part of a new film being screened next month to coincide with the fifth anniversary of her death.

The dramatised CBS film, The Secret Life of Princess Diana, tells the story of her collaboration with Morton.

The programme stars British actor Paul McGann, Faye Dunaway and Brian Cox.

But the acting blends with real footage of Diana, and the actual recordings she made which were used by Morton for his best selling book Diana: Her True Story.

It will be the first time her voice has been heard to any extent since her death in the Paris car crash.

Morton's book was an immediate bestseller when it was released in the early-1990s, but was vilified by royalists and Diana's enemies as a piece of fiction.

It revealed her eating disorder and that she threw herself down the stairs.

The film's makers said they decided it would have been impossible for an actress to successfully portray the princess.

Director Philip Saville said: "After I read the screenplay, I was so much touched and convinced that there is an important and unknown story which must be told about the Princess."

Morton worked with the producers on the film, which took about three years to make.

There are currently no plans to show it in the UK.