Lucy Gaymer

The Baby review

Gory horror-comedy that takes the pressure of motherhood to the extreme.

I loved the sound of Sky Atlantic's eight-part horror-comedy The Baby: an "evil baby" causing mayhem - count me in. Created by Lucy Gaymer and Siân Robins-Grace, The Baby even nicks The Omen's red-horror title graphics, which shows it has a sense of humour about itself.

The start of the opening double episode (all are available to stream) doesn't disappoint: a runaway woman backs over a cliff, followed by a crawling baby. The latter falls into the arms of late-thirtysomething Natasha (Michelle de Swarte), who is so anti-baby she bluntly suggests to a pregnant friend that it isn't too late for a termination. It becomes clear that the baby is both killer and parasite. A mysterious older woman (Amira Ghazalla) tells Natasha he must die.

In this way, the baby serves as a hormonal Damien-proxy, a transgressive riposte to idealised parenthood. A complex subtext weaves throughout: the monstering of "unnatural" non-maternal women; the chaos of parenthood; postnatal depression and beyond. Tanya Reynolds (Sex Education) appears in one episode in a thrillingly baroque backstory. When people treat the baby as Natasha's child, you wonder: is she in the grip of postpartum psychosis?

Frustratingly, too large a section gets bogged down by an overworked, dull storyline about Natasha's estranged mother (Sinéad Cusack) and a hippy commune. The Baby works best as a waspish parable about unnatural motherhood. De Swarte is great: uncouth, acerbic, conversing with the tot inappropriately: "Are you fucking with me?" Saltier dialogue ("Home time, you little cunt") and a plot to stab the baby may go too far for some, but it's also where the comedy feels blackest and boldest.

The Baby review

Sky Atlantic's new comedy-horror starts off as a smart take on the trials of motherhood but soon descends into clichéd farce.

TV preview: The Baby

There is no sleeping like a baby after this.

Interview with cast and crew of The Baby

Dark new British comedy-horror series The Baby takes this idea and runs with it, and over eight unpredictably compelling episodes, we see one woman's life implode when she's landed with the toddler from hell. But it's also hilarious - think The Omen laced with laughs.