TV

Hamm, Radcliffe team for Stalin-era ‘Notebook’

Daniel Radcliffe’s character in “A Young Doctor’s Notebook” is more wacky than wizard-y.

Premiering Wednesday (10 p.m.) on Ovation, “A Young Doctor’s Notebook” teams Radcliffe with “Mad Men” star Jon Hamm, who also executive-produced the series.

“AYDN” is based on a semi-autobiographical novel by acclaimed Russian writer/playwright Mikhail Bulkagov (1891-1940), who began his career as a doctor in a remote Russian village. It premiered on Sky Arts in the UK and has been renewed for a second season.

And if you’re wondering why Radcliffe — best known for his “Harry Potter” movies — decided to act in a niche cable series, he’s ready with an answer. “I’ve been a huge Bulkagov fan for a long time, ever since I read ‘The Master and Margarita’ when I was 18,” Radcliffe, 24, told The Post, alluding to Bulkagov’s most acclaimed novel.

“I’ve always loved his writing,” he said. “Even though this is a much more naturalistic kind of story, it’s still got that kind of crazy imagination,” he said. “And Bulgakov’s wonderful sense of humor runs throughout it, so it still felt like familiar territory.”

The series opens in 1934 Moscow, where the narrator, played by Hamm, is under scrutiny from Stalin’s secret police for a journal he kept 17 years earlier during the Russian Revolution.

As the narrator looks through the journal, he flashes back to 1917, when his very nervous younger self (Radcliffe), arrives in snowy, desolate Muryovo to begin his medical career. The young doctor not only has to deal with the legend of his sainted predecessor — the oft-mentioned Leopold Leopoldovich — but with a skeptical staff (including Adam Godley, who played Elliott on “Breaking Bad”) and a clinic short on modern medical instruments but long on archaic tools (including a blunt amputation saw). The young doctor is joined at the clinic by the narrator — seen only by Radcliffe’s character — who walks his younger self through his paces.

The opener includes several slapstick scenes (including the young doctor’s attempts to extract a tooth) and subtle comedy. But it also hints at darker moments to come. “It’s sort of me banging my head, but what I loved about [the series] is that it veers between gut-wrenching and sad and incredibly funny, sort of in the slapstick tradition,” Radcliffe said.

The Russian characters speak with English accents — a conscious decision, the British-born Radcliffe said. “We did, at one point, consider [Russian accents], but we thought rather than having myself and Jon and the rest of the cast learn that . . . we would end up becoming more of a self-parody and we all would have ended up sounding silly,” Radcliffe said — adding that he doesn’t mind that his on-screen older self is played by Hamm. “Things could be worse,” he said. “If I’m going to grow into Jon Hamm, I’ll be a very happy man. The great thing about Jon is that he’s really funny, is dashing and good-looking and charming and he’s a total gentleman. He loves comedy . . . We’re both big comedy nerds, which is not what people know us for.

“He’s done ‘30 Rock’ and ‘SNL,’ and since most people know him from ‘Mad Men’ and me from ‘Potter,’ they think this is a weird little outside project. But I really think there’s nothing else like it on TV at the moment.”