In Northern Ireland, from the late 70s to the early 90s, the IRA killed over 40 alleged informers.

But the man who often found, tortured and sometimes killed these people on behalf of the IRA

was himself an informer, a secret British army agent with the codename Stakeknife.

Who gets to play God? And why me? Why my family? When lies are still being told to this day,

who do you believe? I wouldn't even know where to start and I'm with the IRA.

Steakknife. Listen first on BBC Sounds.

BBC Sounds, music, Radio, podcasts.

Hello, and welcome to a celebration of that most Christmassy of writers, Charles Dickens.

May this episode of Open Book haunt your house pleasantly.

The people by this time were pouring forth as he had seen them with the Ghost of Christmas Present.

And walking with his hands behind him,

Scrooge regarded every one with a delighted smile. He looked so irresistibly pleasant, in a word,

that three or four good-humoured fellows said, good morning, sir, a merry Christmas to you.

And Scrooge said often afterwards that of all the blithe sounds he had ever heard, those were the blithest in his ears. The joyous de Nume on there of a Christmas carol. Thomas Caneli will be offering

his insights into that novel and its legacy later, and we'll be feasting in the company of

Dickens with the help of food historian Pen Vogler. But first, we look at the Dickens in the detail, the unique ways in which he used words on the page.

In the artful Dickens, Professor John Mullen unearths the literary tricks and secrets

the author used to create his sweeping stories and conjure vivid characters that remain so enduring 150 years after

his death.

Earlier this year, I caught up with John Mullen and fellow Dickens enthusiast, the writer

and film director Armando Ianucci, who recently gave David Copperfield a fresh, funny

and unconventional big screen adaptation.

...