Age: Eternal to the committed fantasist; 53 to the literally minded; -1 to keen buyers of Radio Times.

Appearance: Gothic pile peopled by crazed anachronisms.

Sounds like the House of Lords: The characters are not quite that crazed.

Famous book, isn't it? A trilogy actually, comprising Titus Groan, Gormenghast and Titus Alone, written by the crazed, anachronistic etc etc Mervyn Peake in the 40s and 50s.

A classic? An acquired taste. Fans adore its baroque language and bleak vision; everyone else thinks it's ridiculous. Like Tolkien, but more grown up and just as susceptible to metaphorical interpretation.

Such as? Gormenghast castle as atrophied Britain, governed by ritual and ripe for revolution.

Why is it in the news? An influence on New Labour? Young Blair and the incendiary Steerpike may be distantly related, but more relevant is that the BBC has announced that Peake's fantasy will be its big TV series next year.

A random collection of adjectives from the BBC press release: "Lush, arcane, stunning, weird, wild, ambitious, aspiring, inspired, ingenious, challenging."

An adjective not on the BBC press release: "Expensive." The four-part series will cost £10m.

What about Peake? Born in China. Visited Belsen as a war artist and never recovered from the experience. Spent most of the last 20 years of his life in mental hospitals. Made little money from his books. Died at the age of 57 in 1968.

Most famous fan: Sting, who named one of his daughters after a character in the book.

Prunesqualler? No, Fuchsia, thankfully.

Not to be confused with: Gordonstoun.

Do say: "It is a rich wine of fancy chilled by the intellect to just the right temperature" (Anthony Burgess).

Don't say: Anything rude about overwritten escapist nonsense likely to provoke angry letters from the Mervyn Peake Society.