“He was never banging the drum, he was just saying ‘this is what’s going on’ and people could draw their own conclusions.

What I didn’t want to do – and I think Dickens never tried to do – was make something specifically political,” Knight told the BBC. They won’t be just of the time, they will be about the human condition. “I think that with any great writer like Dickens, the issues and the subjects that he deals with will always be timeless. “Great Expectations” is produced by FX Productions in association with the BBC, Scott Free and Hardy Son & Baker. Brady Hood and Samira Radsi serve as directors. Knight serves as writer, and also executive producer alongside Tom Hardy, Ridley Scott, Dean Baker, David W. What may the future hold for mandrake or woad? We remain dependent on plants for our food, our fuel and our medicines.0Their effects on our lives, as the stories in this wide-ranging and engaging book demonstrate, continue to be profound, and often unpredictable.Fionn Whitehead stars as Pip, leading a cast featuring Olivia Colman as Miss Havisham, Shalom Brune-Franklin, Ashley Thomas, Johnny Harris, Hayley Squires, Owen McDonnell, Trystan Gravelle, Laurie Ogden, Rudi Dharmalingam, Tom Sweet, Chloe Lea and Matt Berry. Moreover, with time, uses change: beets, which have been used variously as a treatment for leprosy, source of sugar and animal feed, are now showing potential as biofuels. Some, such as barley, have been staples from earliest times others, such as oil palm, are newcomers to Western industry. Plants have provided paper and ink, chemicals that could kill or cure, vital sustenance and stimulants. Taking us on a chronological journey, Stephen Harris identifies fifty plants that have been key to the development of the Western world, discussing trade, politics, medicine, travel and chemistry along the way. From the coffee bush and grass for cattle which give us milk for our cappuccinos to the rubber tree which produces tyres for our cars, our lives are inextricably linked to the world of plants. When did the British Government become the world's largest drugs pusher? What tree is frequently used to treat cancer? Which everyday condiment is the most widely traded spice on the planet? Plants are an indispensable part of our everyday life.

Grasses by Stephen Harris