By Neil Gaiman

BBC Radio 4, December 25 and on BBC Sounds

Mrs Whitaker buys the Grail from the Oxfam shop and takes it home. She’s not that surprised to receive a visitor…

This is Neil Gaiman’s own adaptation of his story, contained in Smoke and Mirrors, about a sweet old widow who goes regularly to her local charity shop and buys a second-hand Mills & Boon book as well as any other small item that might take her fancy. And one day, there’s the Holy Grail sitting there. She recognises it, buys it and takes it home. She has the perfect place for it on her mantlepiece… but a handsome young lad, Galaad, also knows what it is, and is prepared to do whatever it takes to get it. Including the gardening.

The play is half an hour of pure whimsy tempered by Gaiman’s customary sharp observation of human nature (in this case, bereavement). We never know how Mrs Whitaker knows what the Grail is or how it got there. The delight is in experiencing the repetition of her routine counterpointed with Galaad’s increasing offers and wondering whether Mrs Whitaker might succumb.

Allegra McIlroy has brought together a superb cast, with Glenda Jackson as the Narrator and Mrs Whitaker, and Kit Harington as Galaad, assisted by Jessica Turner and Lucy Reynolds. David Chilton’s sound design transports us to a timeless English village, and McIlroy keeps everything at the gentle pace the story demands.

Verdict: A Christmas gem. 9/10

Paul Simpson