Creature type (Dungeons & Dragons) all animal type monsters are based on real world animals. Creature entries based on mythological, fictional, or nonexistent animals are usually classified as magical beasts (see below). Besides ordinary fish, birds, reptiles and mammals, the animal type is also applied to depictions of dinosaurs, prehistoric animals, and "dire" or specially modified, often larger and scarier, versions of real world animals. Some real world animals are not given the animal type in the game. Examples include arthropods (insects, spiders, etc.) and worms, which the game classifies as "vermin" (see below) and not animals. Mollusks, such as octopuses, are often classified as
Bleak Expectations series, titled "A Pleasant Yet Dull Life Re-Evilled", was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 at 6.30pm on 20 November 2012. "The Bleak Old Shop of Stuff", a televisual spiritual successor to "Bleak Expectations", written and produced by the same crew, was first broadcast on BBC Two on 19 December 2011. A novel of "Bleak Expectations" written by Mark Evans was published in November 2012 by Constable & Robinson. While it is clear from the general context that Bleak Expectations is set in the 19th Century, there are various references to real-life people and events, suggesting the following chronology: November 1805: