Bleak Expectations

You may have heard this when it first went out in the 6.30pm comedy zone but if you are generally averse to what's offered in those slots and thus missed it, grab it now. Mark Evans writes one of the wittiest, most ingenious scripts on the air, a Dickensian pastiche with a slight Rocky Horror Show echo. Director Gareth Edwards has cast it beautifully and the actors (Richard Johnson and Anthony Head among them) give it their considerable all.

Why poke fun at Charles Dickens?

Charles Dickens is a genuine national treasure, his works read by millions and the television adaptations usually ratings hits. But his novels and characters are also ripe for satire, says Gareth Edwards.

Bleak Expectations: more than an old curiosity

The glorious Radio 4 comedy returns tonight to send up more Victorian clichés - perfect radio for these austere and chilly times.

A freshly minted comedy classic here, as the third series of Mark Evans's Dickensian spoof gets a full commercial release following its Radio 4 run. While strictly speaking it's a literary parody, keen scholars shouldn't expect too much in the way of donnish wit: the focus here is much more on balls-to-the-wall silliness with flourishes of surrealism. Bleak Expectations chronicles the struggles of orphan turned wealthy wastepaper-basket magnate Pip Bin (played by ebullient, talented newcomer Tom Allen) against the villainous activities of his legal guardian and tormentor-in-chief, the inappropriately named Mr Gently Benevolent (a who-knew comic performance of genius from Buffy's one-time mentor Anthony Head). While the show cocks plenty of snooks at costume-drama cliches, bigger laughs come from outlandish moments like the succession of bizarre and ineffectual inventions offered up by Bin's nice but useless engineer sidekick, Harry Biscuit.

Mark Evans's magnificent Dickensian pastiche reaches episode four, with Pip Bin (our hero) and his family going through yet more excruciatingly hard times and whole old shopfuls of curiosities. It really is very funny and has the added benefit of a first rate cast. How odd, though, for Radio 4 to schedule Mike Walker's 20-part adaptation of Dickens' own Our Mutual Friend in such close proximity (10.45am - the Woman's Hour Drama - and 7.45pm daily). It, too, has good acting and atmospheric production but if you hear it after Bleak Expectations it just seems hilarious.

Bleak Expectations, Radio 4's comedy Dickens pastiche, is back for its third series. This week Mr Benevolent tortured Pip Bin, beginning by overcooking the salmon and offering red instead of white wine. I hate that red wine with fish joke, but I did enjoy the subsequent cheese torture. "I must have a cracker, maybe some chutney?" begged Pip. Tightly punned and briskly acted, with some excellent sound effects, Bleak Expectations is expert stuff, in the manner of Blackadder. It just needs a bit more madness to become a real classic.

Yesterday was dipped in honey and spread across the week like a special treat, for it saw the return for a third series of Mark Evans's wonderful parody of Victorian melodrama, Bleak Expectations (Radio 4, 6.30pm). This continuing story of Pip Bin, the inventor of the pedal bin, Harry Biscuit, Mr Gently Benevolent and the rest was everything we have come to love. Evans has long left behind the Dickensian templates that informed Bleak Expectations at the beginning - now, anything goes. The growth of the temperance movement means that Pip and Harry, pleasure bent, are forced to walk past alcohol-free pubs such as The Killjoy and Horses on their way to a low dive in the East End - The Jellied Eel and Murderer - that does serve strong drink.

Staggering out, they fall prey to a larcenous pigeon that steals Pip's handkerchief, murders some poor wretch (for the bird has been inhabited by the spirit of the evil Gently Benevolent, currently in a Voldemortian not-quite-himself state) and then drops it on the corpse to incriminate Pip. Inspector Whackwallop of Scotland Yard shows up to grill our hero: "The victim had hundreds of tiny wounds and was clutching your handkerchief." "Ah, that's easily explained. A pigeon stole it and must have dropped it there accidentally. Now, Inspector, you say the body had hundreds of tiny wounds."

"Aha! I never said it had hundreds of tiny wounds."

"Yes you did."

"Damn. That normally works. Aha! I never said he was an apprentice blacksmith."

"And nor did I."

"Didn't you? Damn again."

And so on. Existing lovers of Bleak Expectations will already know that the inspired lunacy of previous series is intact. Newcomers will doubtless be hopelessly confused, but eager to learn more. The BBC iPlayer is but several computer strokes away. Have at it.

Third series of Mark Evans's artful Dickens parody in which old Sir Philip (Richard Johnson) recalls his inventive youth and rise to fame when he was young Pip Bin (Tom Allen), struggling against cruel blows of fate supported only by eternal optimism and innate stupidity. It's full of in-jokes, references to other comedies and much merry sport with neologisms and circumlocutions. It also, smartly, simultaneously both conjures and makes fun of a Victorian world of seances, temperance movements and murky crime. Dazzling cast. Slick production.

When last we heard from Pip Bin, he had thwarted the evil Mr Gently Benevolent and his equally evil plans for world domination. Now, to the great delight of all right-minded folk, Mark Evans's superlative parody of everything Victorian, but mostly its literature, is back for a third series. The older Sir Pip continues to tell his life story to his son-in-law, Sourquill, otherwise known as "the fly in the ointment, the dead rat in the vegetable soup, the pig-and-shellfish surprise at a kosher banquet". Surely now the young Pip can look forward to a quiet existence with Ripely Fecund? Alas, no, as a seance goes badly awry - and an inspector calls. Rich, ripe language, a hissable villain and a sublime cast, including Anthony Head, who is clearly having the most fun with this delicious silliness, make for the best radio known to man.

A third series of the splendid Victorian send-up. Sir Philip continues to tell his life story, which this week includes a seance gone wrong, an inspector calling, and a possessed evil pigeon.