The Baby
Sky Atlantic

Is Sky’s new drama series The Baby a supernatural thriller about a demonic baby or an allegory about post-natal depression? It doesn’t seem to be able to decide: I think it’s trying to be both. In episodes one and two (7 and 14 July), hard-living, poker-playing chef Tash is recovering from an evening with girlfriends who have gone over to the other side: i.e., they’ve gone all party-pooping and got pregnant, forever asking her to stop smoking.

In an effort to recalibrate, Tash takes time off work and rents a spookily retro cottage at the foot of a huge cliff. Here, she spends her evenings gloomily flicking through Tinder wondering what’s gone wrong. Then one evening, while she is idling on the beach, a baby quite literally falls into her arms, 10 ­seconds after her mother (we assume she is the mother) has apparently hurtled to her death from the clifftop. This event is swiftly followed by the arrival of two local policemen who, when they attempt to remove the baby, are killed in a mysterious crash.