Keeley Hawes and Max Beesley are to lead Sky’s adaptation of The Midwich Cuckoos. The eight-part drama is based on John Wyndham’s 1957 novel and has been adapted for the screen by David Farr, the writer behind The Night Manager and Hanna.
This version updates the story to the present day and moves it from a rural village to Midwich, a leafy commuter town outside London. One evening the town is hit by a sudden blackout, with everyone in the affected area falling unconscious and anyone who tries to enter doing the same. When it lifts, every woman of childbearing age in the zone is found to be pregnant, and the children they go on to deliver grow at an alarming rate and share strange, unsettling abilities.
Hawes plays Dr. Susannah Zellaby, a psychotherapist brought in to support the families caught up in the phenomenon, whose own daughter is among those affected. Beesley plays the local police officer DCI Paul Kirby, tasked with keeping order as fear takes hold. The cast also includes Aisling Loftus, Ukweli Roach, Synnøve Karlsen and Lara Rossi.
Produced by Route 24 and Snowed-In Productions in association with Sky Studios, the series begins filming in London next month and is due to air on Sky and NOW in 2022.