The Baby review

Gory horror-comedy that takes the pressure of motherhood to the extreme.

I loved the sound of Sky Atlantic's eight-part horror-comedy The Baby: an "evil baby" causing mayhem - count me in. Created by Lucy Gaymer and Siân Robins-Grace, The Baby even nicks The Omen's red-horror title graphics, which shows it has a sense of humour about itself.

The start of the opening double episode (all are available to stream) doesn't disappoint: a runaway woman backs over a cliff, followed by a crawling baby. The latter falls into the arms of late-thirtysomething Natasha (Michelle de Swarte), who is so anti-baby she bluntly suggests to a pregnant friend that it isn't too late for a termination. It becomes clear that the baby is both killer and parasite. A mysterious older woman (Amira Ghazalla) tells Natasha he must die.

In this way, the baby serves as a hormonal Damien-proxy, a transgressive riposte to idealised parenthood. A complex subtext weaves throughout: the monstering of "unnatural" non-maternal women; the chaos of parenthood; postnatal depression and beyond. Tanya Reynolds (Sex Education) appears in one episode in a thrillingly baroque backstory. When people treat the baby as Natasha's child, you wonder: is she in the grip of postpartum psychosis?

Frustratingly, too large a section gets bogged down by an overworked, dull storyline about Natasha's estranged mother (Sinéad Cusack) and a hippy commune. The Baby works best as a waspish parable about unnatural motherhood. De Swarte is great: uncouth, acerbic, conversing with the tot inappropriately: "Are you fucking with me?" Saltier dialogue ("Home time, you little cunt") and a plot to stab the baby may go too far for some, but it's also where the comedy feels blackest and boldest.

The Baby review

Sky Atlantic's new comedy-horror starts off as a smart take on the trials of motherhood but soon descends into clichéd farce.