BBC Two is making a new comedy following the progress of four medical pioneers in Victorian England.

Quacks will star Mathew Baynton (The Wrong Mans; Horrible Histories) as a fledgling psychiatrist, Rory Kinnear (Count Arthur Strong; Skyfall) as an arrogant showman surgeon, Tom Basden (Plebs; The Wrong Mans) as a hedonistic dentist turned anaesthetist, and Lydia Leonard (River; Life in Squares) as a headstrong social campaigner, Quacks is created and written by James Wood who co-created the BAFTA award winning, BBC Two hit comedy Rev. Rupert Everett (The Musketeers, St Trinian's, An Ideal Husband), will also guest star during the series.

It is a 6 X 30 series set in the 1840s when medical science as we know it was still in its infancy, when doctors were just as likely to kill their patients as cure them, when they experimented on themselves and each other. The show explores an era of surgery when the operating theatre was just that: a theatre, full of spectacle and showmanship where people would come to watch revolutionary procedures, or a surgeon try to beat his amputation speed record. 

Shane Allen, Controller of Comedy for the BBC says: “This is a dream comedy cast allied to a very dynamic period in British social history which lends itself well to raucous high adventure and inappropriate behaviour all in the name of progress. We follow the often maverick doctors from one misguided cock-up to the next with the very occasional (and mostly) accidental success. It’s a timely comedy flag in the often po-faced world of period settings."

James Wood adds: “Quacks is a comedy series about three colourful, energetic, young Victorian doctors who enjoy a lurid social life of drink, drugs, and complicated relationships. In other words they’re just like every other young doctor you’ve ever met. I couldn't be more excited about working with this incredible cast on a show set during a fascinating period of medical history.” 

The series will begin filming later this year.