Sky/HBO Orders Darkly Comic Horror ‘The Baby’ From SISTER & Proverbial Pictures
Sky and HBO have teamed up on ‘The Baby‘, a new darkly comic horror co-production from debut screenwriter Siân Robins-Grace?(producer on ‘Sex Education’)., which tells the story of a woman who finds herself looking after a… let’s say… “uncooperative” baby.
When 38-year-old Natasha is unexpectedly landed with a baby, her life of doing what she wants, when she wants, dramatically implodes. Controlling, manipulative and with violent powers, the baby twists Natasha’s life into a horror show. Where does it come from? What does it want? And what lengths will Natasha have to go to in order to get her life back?
The Sky and HBO co-production is co-created by Robins-Grace?and Lucy Gaymer (credits as Production Manager include ‘Gangs of London’, ‘Liar’) and produced by SISTER and Proverbial Pictures.
“With?The Baby, we want to explore the powerful anxiety around the question of whether or not to have children,” commented Siân Robins-Grace?and Lucy Gaymer. “The ambivalence of not knowing, the bafflement at everyone else’s certainty and the suspicion that the whole thing is one millennia-long scam. We’re thrilled to be working with such a phenomenal team of producers to help us bring this weird baby into the world with HBO and Sky.”
‘The Baby’ which will air on Sky Atlantic and streaming service NOW TV in the UK, and HBO in the US, is a funny, raw examination of motherhood as an?institution:?a set of unspoken rules that affect women differently depending on how they’re viewed by society. If you’re not scared by that, you should?be. Terrifying and darkly comic the series gleefully deconstructs the “joy of motherhood”, exploring the powerful anxiety of whether or not to have children, questioning who gets to choose “motherhood” and who doesn’t. She doesn’t want a baby. The baby wants her.
The?eight-episode first season?will be produced by SISTER and Proverbial Pictures and Executive Produced by Jane Featherstone (‘Chernobyl’, ‘Giri/Haji’), Carolyn Strauss (‘Chernobyl’, ‘Game of Thrones’), Naomi de Pear (‘The Power’, ‘Flowers’), Katie Carpenter (‘Landscapers’, ‘The?Bisexual’) and Siân Robins-Grace.?Joining?the?female-led creative team as producer is Lucy Gaymer. The Baby is Robins-Grace’s screenwriting debut, following her work on critically-acclaimed hit ‘Sex Education’ which she developed with Creator Laurie Nunn.
“Siân and Lucy’s exploration of motherhood is as funny and resonant as it is twisted, The Baby gives voice to all the women who just don’t know,” adds Amy Gravitt, EVP, HBO Programming.?”We’re thrilled to be partnering again with Jane Featherstone, Carolyn Strauss, and our friends at Sky.”
‘The Baby’ was commissioned for Sky by Zai Bennett, Sky UK’s Managing Director of Content and Cameron Roach, Director of Drama at Sky Studios, with Gabriel Silver, Senior Commissioning Editor at Sky Studios, as the commissioning editor. The series is commissioned for HBO by Casey Bloys and Amy Gravitt. The series is a co-production between Sky and HBO and will be filmed in the UK in 2021.
