Are you sitting uncomfortably? B

EDTIME stories for grown-ups sounds like a marvellous idea. Why should it only be kids who get to snuggle up in their PJs, drifting off to sleep to a soothing tale?

But this ‘Jackanory on crack’ is more likely to bring us nightmares, with each offering a creepy, twisted story of mayhem.

So keep your favourite teddy bear to hand, and perhaps pour a tot of whisky into your mug of cocoa – it might help to calm your nerves.

Read by a host of celebrities, each settling into a battered brown leather armchair, this fourth run of tales is just as dark and funny as the last.

And each story is brought to life with live action, featuring some of Britain’s best comedy actors, while the ‘living room’ is scattered with the appropriate props to jazz things up a bit.

Comedian Dara O Briain is first in the Crackanory chair, reading A Close Shave by Tony Way. Nothing to do with Wallace & Gromit, this story is set in ancient Rome, where a slave who works in a playwright’s household helps him finish his latest opus.

But little does he know he’s effectively conceived his own death.

“He tries to use his wits to escape slavery,” explains Dara. “But there are twists.”

Tomorrow night actress Sheridan Smith reads Living With A Lie, on Wednesday comedian Bob Mortimer tells us about The Despot Of Tea, while on Thursday actress Anna Friel entrances us with The Survivor.

And don’t miss next week’s instalments, with actors Mackenzie Crook and Doc Brown, actress Miriam Margolyes and presenter Mel Giedroyc, who says: “We don’t tell each other enough stories, but we should do!”