Prisoner C33

BBC4, 9pm

Nominally this is a monologue dramatising the plight of Oscar Wilde (Toby Stephens, right) in Reading gaol, serving a sentence with hard labour for ‘gross indecency’ in an era that cruelly criminalised homosexuality.

But in an emotionally wrenching and inventive work by playwright Stuart Paterson, directed by Trevor Nunn, we get two Oscar Wildes for the price of one. As the celebrated writer suffers in his cell, fearing for his sanity, he conjures up his younger, witty and sophisticated self.

The interplay between the two Wildes becomes a masterful reflection on the downfall of a man who once had all of high society at his feet. Stephens gives a wonderfully humane portrayal of the imprisoned Wilde as a soul in agony, while also evoking the irresistible panache of the great man in his pomp. ★★★★★