The rash of fairy tales that’s been covering our multiplexes for upwards of several years is set to continue, with the news of Kenneth Branagh finally nailing himself a Cinderella. After months of all of us being on the edges of our proverbials over whether Emma Watson would princess it up for us (she won’t), it’s been announced that the glass slipper will actually be donned by Lily James.

James has been swanning around in gowns for a while as Lady Rose MacClare in Downton Abbey; altogether a different kettle of fish from her rumoured Prince Charming’s television hometown of Westeros. Although Richard ‘Robb Stark’ Madden hasn’t been confirmed as the Prince it does seem certain that Cate Blanchett will be getting her evil on as Cinders’ stepmother, which is possibly the only thing to look forward to, after her excellent villaining in Hanna.

It doesn’t seem likely that we’ll be dragged into the dark with this one, as we were for Snow White and the Huntsman and recent train wreck Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters; the writing team of Aline Brosh McKenna and Chris Weitz are between them responsible for a great pile of nonsense, including 27 Dresses, Morning Glory and Nutty Professor II: The Klumps.

Anyway, the real question is if Kenny’s going to manage to match the charm of Ever After, the movie that was re-imagining fairytales before it was cool…