Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Cast: Samuel West, James Purefoy, Sally Orrock, Nicholas Murchie.

Honour those who find their inspiration in the darkest chapters of their life, for they have seen Hell and are still able to inform you of the dangers to come.

Charles Dickens’ tale of The Signalman is one of the most creative stories from the British writer, shorter than his other works of fiction, but one that gets to grips with the century’s fear of the technology of the time, the sense of dread that came with innovation, the sounds of machines.