Julia Davis is back with Sky Atlantic’s Hunderby, her first series since Nighty Night .

A macabre homage to Daphne Du Maurier’s Rebecca, the eight-part series stars Davis alongside Alexandra Roach (The Iron Lady), Alex MacQueen (The Inbetweeners), Rufus Jones (Holy Flying Circus), Rosie Cavaliero (Spy), Jane Stanness (Nighty Night), Rebekah Staton (Spy), Ben Bishop (Whitechapel), Alexander Armstrong (The Armstrong & Miller Show), and Kevin Eldon (This Is Jinsy).

> Buy Series 1 on DVD on Amazon.

Episode 1
Monday 27th August 2012, 10pm

Hunderby features Helene, a shipwreck survivor washed ashore near a small English village. There, she is swept off her feet by widowed pastor Edmund and the two soon marry, with the puritanical Edmund believing his bride to be untouched by another man. But it seems that she has a history, and a dark one at that.

As Helene moves into Edmund’s home, she falls under the watch of housekeeper Dorothy (Davis) who is more than a little involved in her master’s life, and quite obsessed with his dead first wife, Arabelle – to whom Helene simply does not compare. While Helene battles to keep her past a secret, she must navigate Dorothy’s devious scheming, her husband’s harsh critique and a potential new love interest.

Episode 2
Monday 27th August 2012

In the wake of Bird Raymond’s death, for which Helene is blamed, the shipwreck survivor attempts to adjust to life as a pastor’s wife. But negotiating devious housekeeper Dorothy’s wicked schemes grows increasingly tricky when Helene is blamed for the deteriorating health of Mother Mathilde.

Meanwhile, the newlywed hopes to bring cheer to Edmund in the shape of an adopted dog named Susan, although the gift doesn’t go down as well as she may have hoped and Susan soon finds herself on the wrong end of the pastor’s fury. Plus, kitchen hands Annie and Tom keep Helene’s fellow shipwreck survivor Geoff housed in the cupboard, and he proves to be a handy pair of eyes and ears around the house.

Episode 3
Monday 3rd September 2012, 10pm

Episode 4
Monday 10th September 2012, 10pm

Episode 5
Monday 17th September 2012, 10pm

With time ticking on and still no sign of an heir, Edmund announces to his congregation that he and Helene are to leave Hunderby for a new life in Fiji. Few people are happy about this, least of all Dorothy when she learns that she won’t be venturing to the exotic climes but mute Geoff, now installed as Edmund’s personal butler, will.

As luck would have it, the Freak Show is coming to town and, as Dorothy spots the similarities between the show’s hunchback advertised in the paper to the one pictured in Helene’s locket, she engineers a group trip to the show in the hope of outing Helene’s dark past. Could Helene’s secret be revealed when the housekeeper encounters the deformed John Whiffin (Kevin Eldon)?

Meanwhile, the pastor’s wife and Doctor Foggerty give in to their simmering chemistry and embark on a passionate affair under the noses of Edmund and Hestor.

Episode 6
Monday 24th September 2012, 10pm

With Helene and Graham in the throes of a passionate affair, the pastor’s wife hopes to run away with her lover before her past catches up with her, especially when she mistakes the footman, Old Ian, for a hunchback in the garden. But when the doctor’s wife, Hestor, overhears her husband’s plans to leave with the younger woman she takes decisive action.

Meanwhile, Dorothy’s scheming to disgrace Helene and stop Edmund from leaving for Fiji comes to fruition when John Whiffin arrives at the house. Armed with a tale of how his wife beat him and left him for dead, Edmund takes pity on the blind hunchback, giving Helene one heck of a surprise when she arrives home.

Terrified the truth about her identity and history is about to be revealed, Helene is horrified when Edmund encourages her to rub Whiffin’s so-called magic hump in a last ditch attempt to give him an heir and keep them in Hunderby. Will the hunchback reveal the truth about his connection to the shipwreck survivor?

Episode 7
Monday 1st October 2012, 10pm

There’s a celebratory mood in Hunderby this week as Edmund announces the joyful news of Helene’s pregnancy, meaning they’ll no longer be leaving for Fiji. “We all believed my wife’s womb to be no more than a useless dungeon but I should not have doubted my seed capable of climbing diligently these past months up Helene’s fatted thighs. Hunderby is restored this day for my holy cargo does swell her tub.”

But a baby may simply not be enough for Edmund as his feelings for Geoff escalate and soon become public knowledge. As Dorothy brands the shipwreck survivor a witch who has cursed the pastor, Brother Joseph blames the foreigner for his own unsavoury misdemeanours and forces Edmund to decide Geoff ’s punishment for casting his wicked spell on him. Meanwhile, Graham stagnates in a depressed stupor following the end of his relationship with Helene as Hestor keeps his locked up at home.

Episode 8
Monday 8th October 2012, 10pm

With 12 weeks still to go before Helene’s baby is due, Dorothy hopes to speed up the process in order to honour the dying wishes of Edmund’s mother and deliver an heir to Hunderby within a year of her death. Recruiting Biddy as a makeshift midwife, Dorothy refuses the assistance of a real medic despite Helene’s protestations. “I’m sure Mistress Helene would rather Biddy’s pipe up her canal than Doctor Foggerty’s clumsy thumbs,” says the devious housekeeper.

With Edmund distracted by a gift from Brother Joseph in the form a new companion to replace Geoff, Annie goes in search of Doctor Foggerty as she fears for the safety of Helene. But when Dorothy attempts to stop Graham seeing his former lover and a struggle ensues, all hell breaks loose as a wealth of secrets are unravelled – not least the origin of bubbly milk – and everything that was known at Hunderby is turned upside down.

> Buy Series 1 on DVD on Amazon.

> Buy Nighty Night on DVD on Amazon.

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