Sympathy doesn't mean approval or thinking they're a great guy, just fellow-feeling - for a while the song puts you in their shoes.

Butter and Cheese and All is a good example of that; a comic misadventure but one that nevertheless has one gripped out of our general ability to if not sympathise with their predicament then to certainly empathise with how they're feeling. East Enders has had some good Butter and Cheese and All story-lines over the years...

As for Lucy Wan, I feel the most telling part is not so much the killing of the sister but the dialogue with the mother, especially when her ultimate reaction is What will you do when your father comes to know?. That just shifts it onto a whole other level - first time I heard it, the singer placed such emphasis on this it was as if the floor fell away. This was when I was fifteen, hearing it sung by a young female floor singer who also gave the line For there is a child between my two sides that's from you dear brother and I such a darkly erotic spin that it freaked me out for at least a fortnight. Even now...