Ladybaby: The 'mother-daughter rom com' that could be Scotland's next big comedy

Amy Manson and Mirren Mack are the stars of Ladybaby: Robert Pereira Hind

An unexpected reunion between a woman and the daughter she gave up for adoption after giving birth at the age of 15 may sound more like a plot from a soap opera than a recipe for a new Scottish comedy series.

But writer Kirstie Swain and the stars of her new show are convinced all the ingredients are there for Ladybaby to run and run after working on a pilot for the BBC.

Swain has plotted out a six-part series for a story that started life five years ago on her parents’ kitchen table.

Described by Swain as a “mother-and-daughter rom com”, it was originally inspired by the pressures women in their 30s come under to have children.

The writer, who had a baby herself months before filming began, hopes a full series will become an exploration of motherhood.

Ladybaby focuses on how a mother and daughter initially clash when they are reunited and realise how different their lives are – before they begin to form an unlikely bond.

The series was commissioned by BBC3 at the beginning of last year, then put on hold for more than a year by the pandemic.

Available now on BBC Three and the BBC iPlayer, it features a host of Scotland’s leading screen talents, including two leads actresses who had never played comedic roles before.

Phyllis Logan, Amy Manson and Ford Kiernan star in Ladybaby. Picture: Robert Pereira Hind

Amy Manson has swapped her role as a supernatural serial killer in the HBO series The Nevers to play 36-year-old Suzi, a “woman child trapped in an unremarkable life” as a would-be animal artist and a tour guide for an open-top bus company in Edinburgh.

Mirren Mack, who shot to fame last year starring in the gripping BBC surrogacy drama The Nest, plays Kate, “an old lady trapped in a young woman's body”, and the daughter Suzi gave up for for adoption when she was 15, who is pursuing a career in medicine.

Swain said: "When I came up with the idea for Ladybaby I was in my early 30s and it felt like that everyone was like ‘have a baby now, please. Why aren’t you pregnant? Are you going to get pregnant?’

“People are all over your womb. They’ve all got an opinion on it.

Mirren Mack plays Kate in Ladybaby. Picture: Robert Pereira Hind

"I actually thought my life would have been so much easier if I had had a teenage pregnancy and had a baby.

“I also wanted to write a rom com between a mother and a daughter who are people they shouldn’t be.”