For the dark, cold November nights, BBC4 has announced a new drama that should spark fire in the loins of its viewers. Mills & Boon, the publishing house whose name is now synonymous with trashy romance novels, is the subject of the �very raunchy� one-off special.

For the dark, cold November nights, BBC4 has announced a new drama that should spark fire in the loins of its viewers. Mills & Boon, the publishing house whose name is now synonymous with trashy romance novels, is the subject of the "very raunchy" one-off special. So how was it that Mills & Boon became such an established aspect of our culture?

BBC4's drama, Consuming Passion - 100 Years of Mills & Boon, will be shown in November to mark the company's centenary. "Interweaving the stories of three very different women, Consuming Passion will shed light on the impact and influence the books had on women's lives over the past century," explains Ben Stephenson, BBC head of drama commissioning.

Mills & Boon has certainly had a lasting impact, with even an entry in the Oxford Dictionary in 1997 (Mills & Boon is defined as a "a popular romantic novel"). The trademark colourful dustjackets, often graced with an impossibly good-looking couple embracing, are still instantly recognisable. About 70 titles are published every month and over the past 50 years the series has included more than 29,500 kisses and 35,250 hugs.

The company, established in 1908 by Gerald Mills and Charles Boon, was originally a general fiction publisher, with books by authors such as P G Wodehouse and Hugh Walpole.

It was quickly realised that, by focusing on romantic fiction, the company could target the many women who turned to fiction for an escape from reality. The decision to focus on romance novels certainly paid off: in the UK alone there is a monthly readership of more than 1.3 million people and one book sells around every three seconds.

There are a number of different series currently published, including romance, historical and, of course, medical. Over the years the books have become increasingly more explicit, as attitudes and laws have become more liberal.

In 1971, Mills & Boon merged with the Canadian publishing company, Harlequin, marking the start of unprecedented international expansion. By the mid-1980s, Harlequin Mills and Boon were selling around 250 million books worldwide.

Next year, a new Mills & Boon series of books will come to the UK. The Spice paperbacks, including the enticingly titled Spies, Lies and Naked Thighs, will be more about the enjoyment of sex for its own sake, rather than within the confines of an established relationship, marking a departure from the usual rules. Authors wishing to write for the Blaze series are told that "fully described love scenes along with a high level of fantasy, playfulness and eroticism are needed" and that "writers can push the boundaries in terms of explicitness".

Mills & Boon's predominantly female bank of authors has for years inspired people to write their own romantic stories and submit them for publishing.

Mills & Boon writing courses are offered all over the world and are enthusiastically signed up for by hopeful writers. There is even a section on Mills & Boon's website with advice on how and where to submit a manuscript.

Part of the appeal may lie not only in the erotic escapism but also in its promise of a happy ending. Mills & Boon books do not end with cliffhangers, or morality lessons, but often with the heroine being whisked off into a new, blissfully happy life, all problems forgotten.

This comfort aspect may account for why the publishing giant's sales are still so high and why it continues to hold a dominating presence in worldwide booksales.

In a world where the very future of the book itself is in doubt, Mills & Boon is still the go-to publisher for those longing to escape to a place where the combination of a heaving bosom and a bronzed torso is all that is needed for an erotic adventure.