Although the texture of Charmed is in some ways unnecessarily complex, it feels far more accessible than many of its mythology-rich cousins, such as Buffy: The Vampire Slayer and Angel. It helps to have some idea of avatars, warlocks, demons and the like but, even if you don’t, the supernaturally serious stepchild of Bewitched is easy to get into.

The demon Sarpedon (Neil Hopkins) is stealing guardian angels from the unwary, which attracts the attention of Federal Agent Brody (Kerr Smith), who in turn enlists the help of Paige (Rose McGowan). While they play amateur sleuths, Piper (Holly Marie Combs) and Phoebe (Alyssa Milano) persuade Leo (Brian Krause) to go on a vision quest to face his own demons - the ones that challenge, that is, not the ones that come with red eyes and flaming nostrils.

There is a punchy climax to the plot, which leaves the lives of two of the three "charmed ones" under threat. Twists such as these, however, are difficult to play (and believe) in a world where every major contractual turn, particularly the departure of a series lead, would have been flagged on the media landscape six months ago.