When I first heard that The Devil’s Whore (Channel 4, Wednesday, 19 November, 9pm) was hitting the screen, I immediately thought that it would feature Helen Mirren and a lot of sex. I can only assume that I was thinking of The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover, which doesn’t featuring anything remotely resembling The Devil and his whore. Despite the fact it isn’t that, I’m not disappointed as this looks to be one of the best new shows of the year.

Related: First Look at The Devil’s Whore

So what is The Devil’s Whore? Well, it’s a show looking at the English Civil War. Not that exciting you say? Think again. Instead of being some show with old war stuff, all bright hues, strong jaw lines and chivalry, this prefers to roll around in the muck and trade in turnips.

It comes from Peter Flannery, who may not mean much to you, but to us TV saps critics, means a return from the bloke who gave us Our Friends In The North! Result! Also, we’ll get a formal introduction to Andrea Riseborough, who starred in The Long Walk To Finchley as Margaret Thatcher.

Riseborough plays Angelica Fanshawe who is a young woman who has had a hard paper round. Abandoned as a child by her mother and haunted by visions of Lucifer ever since, she marries into aristocracy and thrown headlong into a Britain divided by Cromwell and the Roundheads. It also stars Peter Capaldi and John Simm which means it should be really really good.