Having escaped from the Vile Village, the Beaudelaires are now on the run, accused of being murderers. Hiding in the eerie Heimlich Hospital seems like a wise manoeuvre…

With our heroes on the lam, Lemony Snicket’s Book the Eighth picks on a scary location for its setting – a run-down hospital. Instead of the shiny Art Deco buildings that we’ve previously been treated to, here’s a squalid place with mouldy walls, peeling paint and blinking light bulbs. This is the closest that the series has got to horror.

Count Olaf and his crew masquerade as surgeon, nurse and orderlies, turning the other staff against the children. In one horrific moment, Violet is captured and prepped for surgery – a Cranioectomy: removal of the head – which presents a high risk that she might die! Luckily, Doctor Faustus is able to stall for time and they are saved by the bureaucracy of paperwork.

This story’s V.F.D. is Volunteers Fighting Disease, a bunch of hippy volunteers in a van who sing folksongs to captive patients. We also find out the true meaning of butterflies in the stomach and you’ll be hooting at the honest signs on the hospital walls.

Verdict: Some real jeopardy, an exciting set-piece in a records library and another standout performance from Neil Patrick Harris as the show’s Beast from the East. Horrendous! 8/10

Nick Joy