A new series starring Ruby Rose as Batwoman, the first openly gay female lead of a live-action superhero show, will air on E4 in the UK later this year.

The Orange Is The New Black actress plays Kate Kane in the programme, which finds Gotham in despair and overrun by criminal gangs, three years after her cousin Batman’s mysterious disappearance.

The series starts as Kate returns home when the Alice in Wonderland gang target her father Jacob, played by Dougray Scott, and his security firm.

In order to help her family and her city, she will have to become the one thing her father loathes – a dark knight vigilante.

She will continue Bruce Wayne’s legacy, aided by her stepsister Mary (Nicole Kang) and crafty Luke Fox (Camrus Johnson), as she takes on the psychotic Alice (Rachel Skarsten).

The series also stars Meagan Tandy as Officer Sophie Moore and Elizabeth Anweis as Catherine Hamilton-Kane.

Another character from the DC universe set to soar on to E4 in a deal with Warner Bros Television Group is Harley Quinn, in a new animated comedy series.

Harley Quinn (Warner Bros TV/PA)

The Mistress Of Mayhem, who will be voiced by The Big Bang Theory star Kaley Cuoco, is out of control and on a mission to make it as the criminal Queenpin of Gotham City, having finally broken things off once and for all with the Joker.

Harley is aided by Poison Ivy, voiced by Lake Bell, and a ragtag crew of DC cast-offs, as she tries to earn a seat at the biggest table in villainy: the Legion of Doom.

The series also features Jason Alexander, Diedrich Bader, Andy Daly, Giancarlo Esposito, Ron Funches, Tony Hale, Rahul Kohli, Christopher Meloni, Will Sasso, JB Smoove, Wanda Sykes and Alan Tudyk.

Harley Quinn is joined by other DC cast-offs (Warner Bros TV/PA)

The channel will also air the 14th series of Supernatural when it comes to UK screens later this year. It will be followed by series 15 at a later date.

Karl Warner, controller of E4, said: “At its best, E4 stands for brilliant action-packed entertainment, so kick-starting the year is a groundbreaking new series of Batwoman followed by Harley Quinn, another brilliantly funny animation series that will build on the big success we’ve had with Rick And Morty.”