Sky has released a trailer for its upcoming adaptation of The Midwich Cuckoos, starring Bodyguard’s Keeley Hawes and Homeland’s Max Beesley.
The series is based on John Wyndham’s book of the same name, a sci-fi classic set in Midwich, a quiet and rather idyllic commuter town where nothing much happens – until an unnerving incident that changes the lives of its inhabitants forever, that is.
After everyone falls unconscious in the twilight hours of a summer’s day, every woman of child-bearing age in town falls pregnant. And, if you’re wondering what the children born of such an unusual event are like, the trailer gives a pretty good indication – and a creepy one at that.
“I can’t sleep, because bad things will happen,” one child tells psychotherapist Dr Susannah Zellaby (Hawes) and Officer Paul Kirby (Beesley).
Take a look for yourself below:
Writer and creator David Farr has previously spoken about his inspiration for adapting Wyndham’s work, saying: “I first read The Midwich Cuckoos when I was 12. I was living in a small town in 1980s Britain. Everything about the book rang true to me and terrified me.
“An invasion of a small community by a hostile and ruthless force. Apparently innocent children as a force of huge malevolent power. It got under my skin.
“As I’ve grown older, the story has never ceased to exert a grip. The idea that we may birth our own destruction is so simple and frightening. That as a mother or a father, the being we love most in the world may turn on us. It’s the stuff of nightmares.”
A release date has yet to be confirmed, but the series is expected to land on Sky Max in 2022.
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