5x15: Imelda Staunton, Jim Carter, Bruce Robinson, Harry Parker

Imelda Staunton is something of a national treasure. Whether she’s putting in an Oscar-nominated turn as Vera Drake, wowing West End crowds with Gypsy or terrifying audiences as Harry Potter’s sadistic schoolteacher Dolores Umbridge, she’s always on top form. On April 4, she speaks as part of a 5x15 bill at the Tabernacle.

She’s joined on stage by fellow thespian royalty in the form of her husband Jim Carter. He’s appeared in everything from Richard III to Alice in Wonderland, but he’s probably best known as Mr Carson, Downton Abbey’s priggish butler. Now the show's over, he'll look back at what will surely go down as a generation's favourite period drama.

Also on the bill is Bruce Robinson. Widely known as the director of Withnail and I, the classic tale of late ‘60s dissipation, he’s also an accomplished writer. His most recent book They All Love Jack: Busting the Ripper is the fruit of fifteen year’s research, an investigation into the true identity of Jack the Ripper.

Harry Parker is author of Anatomy of a Soldier, a novel that draws on the author’s own experience of military service in Iraq and Afghanistan. It’s an experimental work in which the narrative is recounted by a series of objects. A cacophonous story built around the instruments of war, it’s already picked up ringing endorsements from the likes of Alan Bennett and Hilary Mantel. It could well prove 2016’s literary sensation.

A fifth guest is to be announced shortly but it’s already another stellar line up from 5x15.