Dean Spanley

Every Thursday, Young Fisk grudgingly goes to see his father, Old Fisk (O’Toole, looking increasingly like that melting Nazi from Raiders of the Lost Ark every day), a maddening old git who refuses to grieve the death of his elder son in the Boer War, and whom Young Fisk secretly hopes might peg it. On one of their Thursdays out, Fisks senior and junior go to a lecture on reincarnation, where they meet the eponymous Dean Spanley. Discovering the Dean has an uncharacteristic interest in the subject and a liking for Tokay wine, Young Fisk asks him round to talk over a bottle. When the Dean takes a sniff of the Tokay, however, a strange transformation takes place, and he becomes somewhat... dogged. Based on a short story by Lord Dunsany, Dean Spaniel – sorry, Spanley - is eccentric, charming, and superbly acted. You’ve a hard heart if this doesn’t make you smile. Or perhaps you were a cat in a previous life. [Cara McGuigan]