Anne-Marie Duff stars in Sky's adoption comedy pilot They F**k You Up, British Comedy Guide can exclusively reveal.

The Bad Sisters and Shameless star plays Alex, a single mother of five adopted children awaiting social services just as some of her brood have gone missing in the non-broadcast taster, directed by Peter Capaldi in London recently.

Written by Cambridge Footlights alumnus Thomas Eccleshare, They F**k You Up is based upon Sarah Naish's memoir But He Looks So Normal: A Bad-Tempered Parenting Guide for Adopters and Foster Parents.

Made by Tod Productions, the STV Studios-backed company founded by Vera producer Elaine Collins, and Sky Studios, the comedy drama was previously in development with the BBC, where it was known as Real Children.

News of Capaldi's involvement in They F**k You Up was revealed by US entertainment website Deadline in December.

Eccleshare, who collaborated with Tod and The Thick Of It star Capaldi on their upcoming Apple TV+ series Criminal Record, told Deadline that the Sky Studios project was a "funny, honest and caustic" look at parenting. Naish adopted five children and But He Looks So Normal is a self-confessed bad-tempered guide to raising kids.

"She's sort of like the best mother in the world and the worst mother in the world," Eccleshare said. "She will leave her kids on the side of the motorway to make their own way home but also fully support them through their quite extreme difficulties."

Although Sky Studios is yet to commit to a full series, Eccleshare also disclosed that he had been commissioned to write a further two, half-hour episodes. The executive producers are Collins and Anil Gupta, who is Sky Studios' creative director for comedy. Katie Churchill (Lazy Susan) is the producer.

Though best known as an actor, Capaldi directed the Bafta-winning NHS comedy Getting On for the BBC, starring Jo Brand, Joanna Scanlan and Vicki Pepperdine, and the Oscar-winning short film Franz Kafka's It's A Wonderful Life. He is married to Collins.