Resident Alien: 3 reasons to love Alan Tudyk’s extra-terrestrial comedy on Sky One

The latest comic to take the leap to live action is Peter Hogan and Steve Parkhouse’s sci-fi comedy Resident Alien.

Alan Tudyk, one of TV and film’s greatest supporting actors, steps into the lead role as a marooned alien, who is forced to pose as an alien in a small town while he rebuilds his spaceship.

His time in Patience, Washington brings challenges for the extra-terrestrial as he’s naïve to human behaviour and finds himself thrust into solving murder investigations and local problems as assumes the identity of Doctor Harry Vanderspeigle.

Being forced to learn more about humans to maintain his secret identity throws a spanner into alien Harry’s plans as he suddenly finds himself entangled in moral questions about the future of mankind.

The cast includes Sara Tomko, Alice Wetterlund, Corey Reynolds, Levi Fiehler and the legendary sci-fi star Linda Hamilton.

How to watch Resident Alien

Resident Alien starts on Sky One on Thursday, January 28.

Watch the full season 1 box set on Sky One with NOW.

3 reasons to watch Resident Alien

1. Its star, Alan Tudyk

Whether you know him from Firefly and Serenity, Dodgeball, A Knight’s Tale, Maze Runner, or Rogue One, you will almost certainly have seen, and loved, Tudyk on screen before.

In Resident Alien, he steps up to play the leading man and you couldn’t find a more perfect actor for the role of the baffled and confused visitor, who has crash-landed on Earth.

Able to transform his body and face physically to reflect every situation the alien finds himself in, the actor manages to make Harry believable and lovable – even when he’s considering the possible extermination of the human race.

2. The cast of characters in Patience, Washington

Tudyk isn’t the only gem in Resident Alien. Harry’s first human friends are health worker Asta Twelvetrees, played by Sara Tomko (Once Upon A Time, Sneaky Pete) and bartender D’Arcy Bloom, played by a scene-stealing Alice Wetterlund (Silicon Valley).

Wetterlund’s sardonic and dark-humoured D’Arcy is a joy, who viewers will fall in love with from the opening episode as she pours out the whiskeys and dishes out the one-liners.

And things can get even more exciting later in the season with the arrival of Terminator icon Linda Hamilton, playing bad-ass General McCallister, who provides a potential threat to Harry’s future in the town.

3.  It's a total original

We’ve all seen fish-out-water comedies. We’ve all seen shows about aliens. And we’ve also all watched small town dramas. But Resident Alien blends the trio together into a totally original mix that also throws in some intriguing questions about humanity – and whether we’re worth saving!

Exec-produced by Chris Sheridan, a veteran from the Family Guy team, the show nails the humour of Harry’s struggling to assimilate with the locals.

But the series also strikes a balance of drama and heart with the weird and wonderful locals of Patience sweeping up Harry into their lives.

Watch the Resident Alien Box Set from January 28 on Sky One with the NOW Entertainment Membership .