Just a quick one to recommend ( a bit late in the day) the current BBC series ‘The Street’. For me, these shows are object lessons in top-quality dramatic story-telling. The first story in particular, featuring a stand-off between the excellent Bob Hoskins & Liam Cunningham, was dramatic screenwriting at its best. Using a highly familiar ( see High Noon) storyline, this was nevertheless fresh, immediate and compelling, with some wonderful character moments.

But all the episodes so far have taken fascinating – even if familiar – set-ups and spun powerful stories from them. Each story has a sense of dramatic inevitability but the writers make each scene count – this is lean, economical writing and studying what makes these stories work will teach you a lot.