So while I’ll avoid all spoilers, as there are lots of surprises in store, I will say that the BBC adaptation nails every important factor. By the end of the second episode I had no doubt that we were in safe hands, cast and crew all. With no room in a drama for the detailed footnotes which explored the world and its history of warring magicians, faeries, and kingdoms of the past, instead it’s left for certain characters to provide a bit more exposition than they would in the book. What this does however, is focus key elements of the overarching story and mythology that didn’t become apparent until the later stages of the novel. The Raven King truly is front and centre here.

It also means that everyone is slightly more of a caricature then they are in the novel. But this isn’t a bad thing. With such huge and sprawling source material, trimming of the fat was necessary to make this watchable. So characters are painted quickly and effectively. Time is compressed, and if there is one fault in the adaptation, it is that I already think it will be too short. Seven episodes will not do the book justice. But in the time they have, they’re creating something truly special. Writer Peter Harness has treated his source material with love, respect, but not undue reverence. It works on its own terms, as well as being quite indebted to the original work.

This is also probably the best looking drama series the BBC have ever made. For those who sometimes have to suspend their disbelief a few too many times on TV, you will witness effects here to rival any on the big screen, as well as sumptuous looking period sets, elegant costuming, and breath-taking otherworldly nightmarescapes. I had long imagined what the faerie realm looked like, and I take my hat off to director Toby Haynes when I say he and his team have realised it on-screen better than I ever could in my imagination. The same goes for a feat of magic involving horses made of sand in episode two which made the hairs on the back of my neck stand-up.

It was this scene which also laid any doubts I had about Bertie Carvel’s portrayal of Jonathan Strange to rest. He nails the arrogant yet childlike wonder of a Regency gentleman who wants to find his place in the world. I remained slightly ambivalent in the first episode, as with Alice Englert’s Lady Pole, but then I realised the journey that have to go is far greater than many of the other characters in the series. Almost every other character arrives if not fully formed, than at least sure of their place in the world, apart from these two.

And speaking of the others, they’re brilliant. Eddie Marsan simply is Norrell, body and spirit, while Enzo Cilenti (lately of Wolf Hall) is a delight as the brooding Childermass, given a role of much more early importance here. For those who miss Paul Kaye’s Thoros of Myr, he riffs on him a bit as street magician-cum-beggar Vinculus, while Peaky Blinders actress Charlotte Riley immediately provides a wise counter-balance as Strange’s wife Arabella.