INTO every email inbox a little sunshine sometimes falls. But not this one, thought the recipient. This email, “purporting to be from the BBC”, must be a mistake.

It came from the makers of Imagine … (BBC1, Monday, 10.35pm), the arts documentary series that has profiled everyone from Barbara Hepworth and Arthur Miller to Doris Lessing and Ray Davies, and it was asking if she, the email account holder, would like to be the subject of their next film. Imagine that indeed.

“I cannot tell you how much I was convinced they had the wrong person, that it was meant to be for Roddy Doyle or somebody like that. Because that does actually happen,” says Marian Keyes, her eyes laughing, the joke on herself.

The email had come to the right place, of course. Though she would never describe herself as such, Keyes is a fixed star in the firmament of modern literature. Her books, “comedies with dark issues”, as she describes stories that explore addiction, domestic abuse, depression and other subjects, are bestsellers worldwide.

To her many fans, Keyes is simply “Marian”, the pal everyone wishes they had around all the time, but alas can visit only now and then, a new book in her hand. (In fact, there is more Marian around than there used to be, courtesy of her BBC Radio 4 advice series, Now You’re Asking, with Tara Flynn, currently on Sunday evenings after The Archers.)

At any rate, the occasion this time is the February publication of Again, Rachel, a sequel to Rachel’s Holiday, the story of a party girl forced into rehab when her life spirals out of control.

The Imagine film is titled “My (not so) Perfect Life”. It begins her story in the 1980s, when she had just arrived in London from Ireland, before looping back to her childhood in Cork, and eventually bringing the tale back to the present day.

As she has done elsewhere, notably on Desert Island Discs, she speaks frankly about the alcoholism of her early adult years and a more recent dark spell, and how she found her salvation.

Adding details and tributes are a cast of talking heads that stretches from her mother, Mary, and sister Caitriona to writers Jojo Moyes, David Nicholls, and Graham Norton. Plus there is a rare chance to meet her husband Tony, described by her as “the perfect man”.

Alan Yentob, the interviewer, is wise enough to sit back and let a natural storyteller like Keyes get on with it.

A treat, and one that will have you reading Rachel’s Holiday again in preparation for the new novel’s arrival.

It may be my imagination but I seem to recall Sunday afternoons spent dozing to classic drama serials, most of them Dickens. Delighted to see that the BBC is continuing the tradition with the ripping yarn that is Dodger (CBBC, Sunday, 5.30pm).

Written and created by by Rhys Thomas, who also stars, the ten-part series is what they call in comic book movies an origins story, only in this case it is not the tale of a superhero but a four foot nothing orphan by the name of Jack. A Londoner by birth, Jack was bought for a pound to work in a mill up north. Unable to take the beatings and starvation he scarpers, pursued by an angry mill owner. Meanwhile, in London, a certain businessman by the name of Fagin is looking for new recruits. We are in the world of Oliver Twist, but before he makes an appearance.

As you would expect from CBBC, Dodger makes ideal family viewing. It’s a little bit scary in parts, but nothing dollops of daft humour cannot smooth away. The cast, led by Christopher Eccleston as Fagin, is first rate, and includes John Thomson, Frances Barber, Colin McFarlane, and David Threlfall.

Next week sees a welcome return for one of the hits of lockdown, Starstruck (BBC3, Monday, 10pm). Creator and writer Rose Matafeo stars as Jessie, a Millenial from New Zealand now living in London. Happy enough with her friends but stuck in rotten jobs, Rose meets a stranger, Tom (Nikesh Patel), and spends the night with him. Unbeknown to her, Tom is a hot new movie star. Can a relationship with a mere mortal work, or should Jessie give up on London and go home?

Matafeo is a likeable sort, and this Notting Hill in reverse tale is funny and rings true. An added delight is the appearance of Minnie Driver as Cath, Tom’s very scary agent.

Comedy newcomer of the week is Cheaters (BBC1, Tuesday, 9.50pm and 11.20pm). Delivered in 18 parts (don’t worry, they are only ten minutes each), it is described by the BBC as “a sexy, messy, comedy drama about morality and monogamy and everything in between”.

A look at the first few episodes reveals a promising candidate for a binge-watch.