'Gothic' series set in the 1800s

Nighty Night star Julia Davis is to create a dark seven-part historical comedy for Sky Atlantic.

The gothic series, Hunderby, revolves around a shipwreck survivor called Helene, who is washed ashore near a small English village in the 1800s.

It will be produced by Baby Cow – the company that made Nighty Night as well as The Mighty Boosh, Ideal and Gavin and Stacey – with Armando Iannucci as one of the executive producers.

The plot involves the mysterious woman Helene, who marries a puritanical widowed pastor Edmund – from whom she must keep her dark past secret. Davis will play the scheming housekeeper Dorothy, who believes the newcomer cannot compare to the pastor’s dead first wife, Arabelle.

Sky says the ‘dark and absurd’ show will feature ‘the requisite cast of fiends, physicians, hunchbacks, wastrels, maids, crones – and an adorable puppy called Wilfred’.

Davis – last seen in Charlie Brooker's Black Mirror series for Channel 4 – said: ‘I'm so excited to be making a series for Sky Atlantic HD, a channel that has so many of my favourite shows from around the world. ‘

And Sky’s head of comedy Lucy Lumsden added: ‘Julia’s sick and twisted sense of humour has found its natural home and we can’t wait to unleash it onto our customers later this year.’

Hunderby will go into production soon, ready to air in the summer.

Baby Cow’s Henry Normal and Lindsay Hughes are the other executive producers, and the series will be directed by Tony Dow, who also worked with Davis on Nighty Night.

Published: 26 Jan 2012