Dickensian comedy heads to BBC Two

Radio 4’s Dickensian spoof Bleak Expectations is to transfer to BBC Two.

Writer Mark Evans has been commissioned to write a TV version, to be called Old Shop Of Stuff.

It has not yet been decided whether it should be a one-off or a series – but it will air as part of a season marking the bicentenary of Charles Dickens' birth next year.

The radio series – which has run since 2007 – involves the attempts of Pip Bin, inventor of the bin, and his two sisters, Poppy and Pippa who are under the charge of the villainous Mr Gently Benevolent.

Evans stars in the radio version alongside Tom Allen, James Bachman, Sarah Hadland, Anthony Head, Richard Johnson, Susy Kane and Geoffrey Whitehead – although it is not yet known whether any of these will appear in the TV version.

The show follows the likes of Goodness Gracious Me, The League of Gentlemen and Little Britain in making the move from radio to TV.

Published: 21 Feb 2011