More details of BBC's Victorian medical comedy Quacks

The BBC has officially released details of Quacks, the comedy-drama set in the world of Victorian medicine which Chortle first reported in October last year.

Initially commissioned as a pilot from Rev creator James Wood, a full six-part series is being made for BBC Two starring Rory Kinnear, Mathew Baynton and Tom Basden as medical pioneers.

Baynton plays a fledgling psychiatrist, Kinnear an arrogant showman surgeon and Basden a hedonistic dentist turned anaesthetist.

The series also stars Lydia Leonard a headstrong social campaigner. Rupert Everett will also guest star during the series, set in the 1840s.

Wood said: 'Quacks is a comedy series about three colourful, energetic, young Victorian doctors who enjoy a lurid social life of drink, drugs, and complicated relationships. In other words they’re just like every other young doctor you’ve ever met. I couldn't be more excited about working with this incredible cast on a show set during a fascinating period of medical history.'

The BBC says that the show is set in an era 'when medical science as we know it was still in its infancy, when doctors were just as likely to kill their patients as cure them, when they experimented on themselves and each other. The show explores an era of surgery when the operating theatre was just that: a theatre, full of spectacle and showmanship where people would come to watch revolutionary procedures, or a surgeon try to beat his amputation speed record.'

The BBC's controller of comedy Shane Allen, who commissioned the series, said: 'This is a dream comedy cast allied to a very dynamic period in British social history which lends itself well to raucous high adventure and inappropriate behaviour all in the name of progress.

'We follow the often maverick doctors from one misguided cock-up to the next with the very occasional (and mostly) accidental success. It’s a timely comedy flag in the often po-faced world of period settings.'

Justin Davies, managing director of producers Lucky Giant added: 'James Wood has done a masterful job of mining our gory medical past to create wonderful characters for this story.

'These are the would-be rock stars of the medical world and while their intentions are sincere, the results are often brilliantly deranged and funny. We can’t wait to bring this to life and there will be plenty of treats in store.'

The series – which begins filming later this year – is also being backed by the Wellcome Trust, the charity which aims to improve education about science.

Published: 17 Mar 2016