Julia Davis

"Last night I dreamed I went to Hunderby (Sky Atlantic) again ..." Yes, I think that has a certain ring to it. OK, so no one actually says that in this filthy little comedy, written by and starring Julia Davis, but it's clear she's more than just nodding at Rebecca. It pretty much is Rebecca, with added Julia Davis-macabre (Daphne Doom Horror here? Sorry). And extra Nighty-Night inappropriateness, because she's Julia Davis. Oh, and she has taken it back to the 1830s, presumably because she likes the feel and smell of them days, the clothes. And the olde-worlde speak.

That kind of language does sit very nicely with Davis's potty pen. No, nicely is not right, more like wrongly. But gloriously wrongly. "You are much darker down there than perhaps I'd imagined," says Edmund the vicar, staring at his new bride who's naked in the bath.

"Do I not please you, sir?" asks poor Helene.

"Nay, nay, 'tis just that Arabelle was smooth as ham, nature did not busy her broken mound with such a black and forceful brush."

Arabelle is the previous wife, the Rebecca character who hangs like a stone around poor Helene's neck, perfect in every way (including perfectly smooth as ham "down there").

Poor Helene is taken off to be shaved by Dorothy, the Mrs Danvers housekeeper character (Davis, beautifully deadpan and creepy), before the marriage can be consummated.

"Come bride, 'tis a quarter after 10, we shall intercourse until a 30 after," says Edmund cheerfully (another great comedy performance, by Alex MacQueen). I'm not quite sure why, but that little indefinite article before "30" adds an extra spoonful of cringiness. Davis is good like that, with language; she can milk an extra wince out of a line, just by adding a tiny little word.

It's not just about the words though. The sex, when it (sort of) happens, is horrendous, as horrid as the two scenes of comedy dancing are hilarious. Like squeaky rabbit rape, though perhaps technically not rape because, as Helene says, "'tis not in".

Yes, sometimes it feels as if Davis is showing off, simply demonstrating that she dares to go to places no one else does (especially places "down there"). Why shouldn't she, though? It doesn't all work, doesn't all come off; at times you're spluttering and shuddering at the wrongness. Laughing a lot too, though, because it is, as I said, gloriously wrongness.

Oh and unlike the weekend's Bad Sugar (which Davis starred in) and A Touch of Cloth, it's not just a series of jokes. There's mortar sticking the gags together, a reason to come back for more. I mean a story. Not Davis's story, perhaps, but a very good one.

Last night's viewing - Citizen Khan; Hunderby

Reviews of Citizen Khan and Hunderby.

Stereotypes abounded in Bad Sugar, a star-studded pilot spoof, written by Peep Show's Sam Bain and Jesse Armstrong and based on telenovelas and old American TV soaps - Dynasty, Dallas], [i]The Bold and the Beautiful. Except this dysfunctional, filthy-rich family of lip-glossed gold-diggers and useless husbands was British, with a tight-fisted mining billionaire father at its helm. Julia Davis and Sharon Horgan performed their "rich bitch" parts perfectly adequately ("bitch is as bitch does"), as did Olivia Colman as an animal-loving frump. Given everyone's calibre, this wasn't as funny as you might have expected. There were some good lines - when Davis's daughter ran to her in her nightdress, crying, "Mummy, I'm scared", Davis retorted: "Tell teddy about it. He'll listen." But I suspect watching repeats of Joan Collins's Dynasty might actually be funnier.

This is a queer beast. Nighty Night creator Julia Davis scripts the tale of a woman who, in 1851, washes up at a glum coastal village. She marries a widower parson, incurring the wrath of his demonic housekeeper (Davis), who prefers the first, dead, wife.

There's heavy investment in an impeccable cast and setting, but I'm not sure what Hunderby is. Davis's reputation is for visiting icky places nobody else will brave; this is mainly innuendo and goofing, with gaps between gags as the linear story chugs on.

Doomed romance, bad luck and sexual confusion are hallmarks of the work of both Daphne Du Maurier and Julia Davis, so this sordid eight-part marriage of the two feels entirely natural. As a homage to Rebecca and the like, Hunderby is sublime: the turns of phrase are deft, the performances arch and loaded with menace, and the wider production superbly detailed. And, importantly, room is also made for a cock-n-balls gag. Davis herself is Mrs Danvers surrogate Dorothy, pining after her late mistress (whose 'broken mound was as smooth as ham') and plotting against her new one, Helene (doe-eyed Alexandra Roach), the shipwreck survivor courted by uptight pastor Edmund (Alex McQueen). Claustrophobic and grimly hilarious in the manner of Davis's best work, it's a triumphant opening double bill.

Julia Davis on Hunderby

Julia Davis, creator of some of the most delectably dark television ever to air in Britain, talks to has Chris Harvey about Hunderby, her first series in seven years.

Mangling accents and genres with glee, Bad Sugar is one of the more promising pilots of C4's Funny Fortnight. Starring three-headed comedy hydra Julia Davis, Sharon Horgan and Olivia Colman, it's equal parts telenovela, costume drama and pseudo-glossy, 'Dallas'-style family saga. The plotting - centred around the will of an ageing patriarch (David Bradley) and the scheming of his three children (plus Horgan's cuckoo in the nest, Lucy) - is self-consciously ridiculous. But Bad Sugar is sustained by a host of brilliant performances. In addition to the above, look out for Kayvan Novak (dim gardener Simon) and Peter Serafinowicz (closeted son Rolf). Tonight, the fingers of Colman's piano-playing naif Joan are mangled by a red-hot boule ball; the absurdity can only escalate when a full series airs next year.

As a black comedy-cum-period drama based on Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca, it's reasonable to point out that Julia Davis' first full series since Nighty Night isn't quite like anything else on television. It's also markedly different to her previous work, with a tight, playfully literary script accentuating the bizarre bleakness. A shipwreck survivor marries the local pastor, and Davis' Mrs Danvers-esque Dorothy is most displeased ... Original, bold and brilliant.

Julia Davis: 'I don't want to offend anyone'

She made her name playing monstrous comic characters in the likes of Nighty Night, Gavin & Stacey and Human Remains - and her latest project is a twisted period drama. Surprising, then, that Julia Davis turns out to be the shy, retiring type.

In her first series since the terrific Nighty Night, writer and comic actress Julia Davis brings her dark humour to a homage to Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca. With Davis's signature mix of double entendre, wince-making comedy and absurdity, this eight-part series, set in the 19th century, begins with a shipwreck. Survivor Helene (Alexandra Roach) is washed up on an English shore and rescued by the local pastor, who promptly asks her to marry him. This riles jealous housekeeper Dorothy (Davis).