FORMER Doctor Who star Jenna Coleman is to lead a new adaptation of a novel by Scots-based novelist Helen FitzGerald.

Coleman, also known for her role in royal drama Victoria, has called the story “uncomfortable” and “thrilling”.

Published in 2013, The Cry tells the story of a couple whose newborn baby is abducted in small town Australia.

It will come to the small screen in a four-part BBC One series part-filmed in Glasgow, where Australian-born FitzGerald is based.

The broadcaster said viewers can expect “a journey into the disintegrating psychology of a young woman, exposing the myths and truths of motherhood”.

Coleman, who played companion Clara in the sci-fi series, will star as Joanna, with her on-screen husband Alistair played by Top of the Lake actor Ewen Leslie, who called FitzGerald’s novel “addictive and exciting”.

She said reading the script for the project had felt “like walking a tightrope, racing page to page, unsettling, unknowable, uncomfortable, and thrilling”.

She added: “I look forward to tackling this challenge and bringing it to the screen.”

Piers Wenger, controller of BBC Drama, said: “The Cry is an intense, psychological thriller which constantly surprises and I know that with the fantastic Jenna Coleman and Ewen Leslie leading the cast as the young couple thrown into haunting and exceptional circumstances, this will be a truly unmissable series for BBC One.”

The project, which will also film around Melbourne, is the first scripted television commission for Glasgow production company Synchronicity Films.

Claire Mundell, the company’s executive producer, said: “We couldn’t be more excited to have Jenna and Ewen as our lead cast, and to be bringing this emotional rollercoaster of a story to BBC and international audiences.”