Keeley Hawes and Max Beesley set to star in gripping new sci-fi drama The Midwich Cuckoos

Keeley Hawes and Max Beesley set to star in gripping new Sky Original sci-fi drama The Midwich Cuckoos

Keeley Hawes and Max Beesley are set to star in a new Sky Original sci-fi drama that promises to captivate viewers with eerie extraterrestrial activity. 

The Midwich Cuckoos is an eight-part adaptation of the critically acclaimed John Wyndham novel that was published in 1957 under the same title.  

The writer behind The Night Manager, David Farr, has penned the modern-day re-imagining, which follows the residents of Midwich as women from the village mysteriously become pregnant with alien children. 

Eerie: Keeley Hawes will star in sci-fi drama The Midwich Cuckoos which follows the residents of Midwich as women from the village mysteriously become pregnant with alien children

Inhabitants of the sleepy Midwich village are sent into panic when a flurry of residents pass out with no explanation on a summer afternoon.   

When they gain consciousness, every woman of child-bearing age inside the town’s parameters is suddenly pregnant.    

BAFTA-nominated Keeley, 45, will play psychotherapist Dr Susannah Zellaby who tries to help those who’ve been effected by the alien invasion, including her own daughter. 

Co-star: The Outsider star Max Beesley, 50, will take on the role of police officer Paul Kirby, who must help the terrified town navigate the danger facing their normally quiet community

Co-star: The Outsider star Max Beesley, 50, will take on the role of police officer Paul Kirby, who must help the terrified town navigate the danger facing their normally quiet community

Meanwhile, The Outsider star Max, 50, will take on the role of police officer Paul Kirby, who must help the terrified town navigate the danger facing their normally quiet community.

Speaking about her latest project Keeley said: ‘I’m absolutely delighted to be working with Sky on The Midwich Cuckoos. 

‘I’m very much looking forward to working with the hugely talented Max Beesley and the amazing cast and I can’t wait to enter the strange and unsettling world of Midwich.’ 

One to watch: Keeley revealed she's eager to get started on her latest project, which will start filming in London in May. She was last seen on screens in ITV's Finding Alice (pictured)

One to watch: Keeley revealed she’s eager to get started on her latest project, which will start filming in London in May. She was last seen on screens in ITV’s Finding Alice (pictured) 

Keeley and Max will also be joined by Last Night in Soho’s Synnøve Karlsen, Aisling Loftus from A Discovery of Witches, I May Destroy You’s Lewis Reeves, Ukweli Roach from Blindspot, and Robin Hood’s Lara Rossi.  

Filming for the Sky drama will begin in London in May with the series expected to hit small screens in 2022. 

This isn’t the first time The Midwich Cuckoos has been the basis for an on-screen adaptation. 

Directors Wolf Rilla and John Carpenter have both previously adapted the terrifying tale under the alternative title Village of the Damned.

Speaking of his passion for the sci-fi novel, writer David Farr revealed: ‘ I first read The Midwich Cuckoos when I was twelve. 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.’  

Rising stars: The pair will also be joined by Last Night in Soho's Synnøve Karlsen (pictured in 2019) as well as Aisling Loftus, Lewis Reeves, Ukweli Roach and Lara Rossi

Rising stars: The pair will also be joined by Last Night in Soho’s Synnøve Karlsen (pictured in 2019) as well as Aisling Loftus, Lewis Reeves, Ukweli Roach and Lara Rossi