Sally Phillips is starring as Pip in the stage adaptation of BBC Radio 4’s Bleak Expectations (Joe Pepler/Shutterstock)

‘There’s fainting and dying and forced marriages and a poor house – it’s going to be loads and loads of fun.’

Sally Phillips, the actress who perpetually looks as if she’s trying to hide her mirth over some secret mischief, is describing a forthcoming stage version of Bleak Expectations, based on the BBC Radio 4 comedy.