Raised By Wolves

Caitlin Moran, journalist and best-selling author of How To Be A Woman, joins forces with her sister Caz for this raucous comedy pilot based on their unconventional childhood in Wolverhampton. The mighty Rebekah Staton is the mum of the piece, waywardly presiding over a house raging with teenage hormones, pop-culture references and a clutch of kids glorying in names such as Germaine, Aretha and Yoko. No wonder the neighbours look at them a bit funny...

Caitlin Moran interview

The Raised by Wolves writer discusses her childhood in Wolverhampton and why she decided to start writing for television.

Caitlin Moran wrote Raised by Wolves with her sister Caz, reimagining their teenage selves as contemporary kids on a Wolverhampton council estate.

Germaine Garry (Helen Monks) and sister Aretha (Alexa Davies) are the eldest of six, home educated and in disagreement about gardening, the correct way to eat Battenberg and the sexual magnetism of local lout Lee Rind. Their lunch looks like a bad food table from You Are What You Eat and their beloved Grampy likes "mellow jazz smokes" and climbing through windows. It sounds miserable, but the effect is pretty joyful.

The parallels with Paul Abbott's Shameless are obvious and Raised by Wolves has the same warmth as early drama from the Chatsworth estate, but with the sharp cultural cleverness (and excellent music) you'd expect from Moran.

Caitlin Moran's media profile continues to rise; it's just as well she's such a likeable presence. This sitcom pilot is a reimagining of her Wolverhampton childhood, co-written with her sister Caroline. In Raised by Wolves, Caitlin and Caroline are Germaine and Aretha. Germaine moons over local lout Lee Rind ('He's sensitive. I saw him shoplift an Adele CD.') while Aretha rolls her eyes and dreams of escape.

The pair are engaged in a long-running, low-key sororicidal war but, even when they're attacking each other with lawnmowers or locking each other in spider-infested sheds, the love is palpable.

There are obvious debts to Shameless, particularly in the shape of the stoner grandad. But it's gleefully profane and full of brittle energy - we'd welcome a series.

Playing Moran: how Caitlin's alter-ego came to life

Raised by Wolves, Caitlin Moran's semi-autobiographical pilot, is due to air this Christmas; so how did undergraduate, Helen Monks, get to play her idol?