These are not carbon copies of the television characters – although Simone Damberg Würtz is an appropriately fearsome Aunt Polly. Rather than a barmaid who croons Irish folk songs, this Grace ( Naya Lovell) is a fierce nightclub singer who arrives in green velvet, lip-syncing to Laura Mvula. Part of what makes Tommy Shelby so compelling on screen is his inscrutability, the camera’s close-up ability to search for what’s behind the eyes. There’s no chance for that in a 2,000-seater theatre. It has to be big. So Guillaume Quéau’s Tommy is altogether more performative and knowingly buff, his dance of grief comes with lots of splits, for example. The set, by Moi Tran, has the dancers on a raised platform (and the musicians raised again behind that) expanding the possibilities of the stage, but cutting off the dancers’ legs for people right at the front, which is an oversight. The scene at the races could be a pop concert set, with fairground lights and carousel horses, and costume designer Richard Gellar has gone to town on a 1920s look of glamour and grit. You young men of the Tunnelling brigade, you are all dead. Not counted among the dead because your bodies were not buried with the dead. But dead inside…

Opening in the trenches of Flanders, a personal story unfolds in post-war industrial Birmingham as the Shelby family navigate the decisions that determine their fate and Tommy is intoxicated by mysterious newcomer, Grace. While Tommy is building his empire, Grace is operating as an undercover agent for Special Branch on a mission to get close to the heart of Tommy’s gang. As the story unfolds, hearts are broken, and revenge is sought. Whilst we will do everything we can to meet the delivery times above, there may be factors outside of our control and we cannot guarantee delivery within this time frame. Isle of Man, Isle of Wight, Northern Ireland and the Scottish Highlands) may take longer to reach you. The show has its faults but when it’s good it’s very good. A flawed four-stars for moxie and ambition.