A Tolerable Life De-Happified

Our hero Pip sees his former nemesis - the badly named Gently Benevolent - thwarted and locked up in a prison within a jail within a gaol spelled the other way, and apparently repentant of his crimes.

But late one foggy night when Pip is attacked with a bowl of sinister custard, he realises a new form of evil is stalking the streets of London. He is obliged to ask for help from his erstwhile foe.

Can Benevolent now be trusted? And who is the sinister evil figure?

Meanwhile, Pip's wife Ripely, has become obsessed with cutlery, and the purchase of some diamond-handled dodo knives will probably force Pip into bankruptcy.

And his best friend Harry Biscuit claims to be having terrible problems with an angry badger.

Mark Evans's epic Victorian comedy - with apologies to Charles Dickens.

Sir Philip ..... Richard Johnson
Young Pip Bin ..... Tom Allen
Gently Benevolent ..... Anthony Head
Harry Biscuit ..... James Bachman
Grimpunch ..... Geoffrey Whitehead
Ripely ..... Sarah Hadland
Pippa ..... Susy Kane

Producer: Gareth Edwards

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November 2010.