The 2017 and 2018 winner will become only the second player after compatriot Eric Bristow to win three in a row if he completes the feat.

Forty-eight-year-old Durrant has been seeded second for the event at the traditional venue of the Lakeside Country Club in Frimley Green in England.

Mark McGeeney, his fellow Englishman who he beat in the final last year, is the top seed.

Durrant will play the winner of a qualifying match between New Zealand's Mark McGrath and England's Adam Smith-Neale in round one.

Smith-Neale won the BDO's second biggest prize, the World Masters, last year which earned him a World Championship spot as he did not qualify through other means.

It presents the possibility of a huge first round showdown should he get past McGrath.

McGeeney will begin against Derk Telnekes of The Netherlands.

England's former world champions Scott Waites and Scott Mitchell will also be in the draw but three-time winner Martin Adams misses out for the first time since 1994.

In the women's competition, England's Lisa Ashton will also be looking for a third title in a row and a fifth in all.

She is seeded second behind fellow countrywoman Lorraine Winstanley.

Russia's three-time winner Anastasia Dobromyslova is seeded fourth and will also be a threat.

Both Ashton and Dobromyslova played in the World Championship staged by the Professional Darts Corporation last month after winning qualifying events.

They were the only two women in the field and both exited at the first hurdle.

Ashton will play Japan's Mikuru Suzuki in round one with Dobromyslova facing Laura Turner of England.