“The woman behind a new BBC film adaptation of The Thirty-Nine Steps is braced for complaints this Christmas from fans of previous screen portrayals of the classic adventure. Gone from her version is Mr Memory, the music hall performer cruelly shot as he reveals the secret at the core of the story; gone is the gripping scene on the Forth Bridge; gone is the villain’s tell-tale missing finger joint (or rather, it is back); and gone, too, is the hero’s death-defying struggle on the clockface of Big Ben.”