Broadchurch star Olivia Colman will return to comedy in Flowers, a new darkly humorous Channel 4 show that aims to “challenge the traditional sitcom”.

Colman, who came to prominence in Peep Show, and has since appeared in comedies Rev and Twenty Twelve, is known to millions for her dramatic roles in BBC1’s The Accused and ITV’s Broadchurch. She is due to appear in a third series of the thriller.

She will play a music teacher called Deborah in the new comedy, opposite Mighty Boosh and Nathan Barley actor Julian Barratt, who takes the role of Maurice, her husband.

The show, which began life as a pilot last year, features the eccentric Flowers family and their struggle to live harmoniously.

Deborah suspects Maurice, an author, of having a homosexual affair with his Japanese illustrator, but tries to maintain a seemingly normal family life in the crumbling old house that is also home to her odd mother and dysfunctional 25-year-old twins, Amy and Donald, who are battling over the affections of the same girl.

Channel 4 promises that Flowers will also feature “strange neighbours” and will swing from “the magical to the mundane to the downright mad”.

Daniel Rigby, winner of the 2011 best actor Bafta, will play Donald, and Friday Night Dinner’s Sophia di Martino takes the role of Amy.

Flowers is written by Will Sharpe, nominated for a Guardian First Film award, who also appears in his six-part comedy series as illustrator Shun.

“This is a comedy about people who are struggling and the situations that can arise when you refuse to admit there are problems,” said Sharpe.

“The word dysfunctional doesn’t even come close to describing quite how brilliantly peculiar the Flowers family are,” said Channel 4’s deputy head of comedy, Nerys Evans.

The show is due to air next year and is being made in association with the US broadcaster NBC Universal’s new comedy-based video on demand platform.

Channel 4 has also announced that early next year it will air explorer and former paratrooper Levison Wood’s latest challenge – walking the entire length of the Himalayas. It follows the success of his 2013 trek along the Nile, which drew an average of 2.6 million viewers.

Wood has already begun his 1,700-mile Himalayan walk, which started in Afghanistan. Last week he had to call a temporary halt after he broke his arm when the taxi taking him and his guide to their overnight accommodation crashed off the road.

Continuing the theme of adventure, Channel 4 also revealed that it is to air an animated version of Michael Rosen’s book We’re Going on a Bear Hunt next Christmas – to be made by the same company that produced the hugely popular The Snowman and the Snowdog.

Around 7.1 million people watched Lupus Films’ follow-up to The Snowman when it premiered in December 2012 and Channel 4 will be hoping Rosen’s 25-year-old children’s tale can replicate some of that success.

Channel 4’s chief creative officer, Jay Hunt, said: “Going on a Bear Hunt is magic, a book that will be brought alive for a whole new audience.”



• This article was amended on 26 August 2015 to correct the fact that Will Sharpe was nominated for, rather than a winner of, a Guardian First Film award