The insanely irritating advertisements for BBC Sounds – 30 seconds to make the spirits sink – have recently included one exhorting us to watch the new BBC adaptation of Great Expectations – by the man who brought us Peaky Blinders!

It’s a real achievement to lose every vestige of humour in Great Expectations

Poor Dickens can’t pull in the punters on his own; it seems it takes Stephen Knight to draw a contemporary audience.