Hunderby

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.

Fans of Nighty Night, Julia Davis#s arch black comedy about a demented beauty parlour owner, will be cheered to see her name on both acting and writing credits for Hunderby, a new eight-parter that's tough to categorise. Borrowing heavily from the plot of Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca, it's all shipwrecks, candles, parsimonious parsons and jealous housekeepers; pornographic language dressed up in period costume. In a word, odd.

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).

Julia Davis interview

Nighty Night creator Julia Davis tells Metro about the inspiration behind her characters, working with Rob Brydon and her new Sky Atlantic sitcom Hunderby.

Julia Davis: laughing in the dark

Julia Davis is famous for creating some of the most uncomfortably bleak comedies of recent times. Now the star of Nighty Night is turning her dark powers to period drama in her new series Hunderby.