Dickens of London


Dickens of London is a 1976 television miniseries from Yorkshire Television based on the life of English novelist Charles Dickens. Both Dickens and his father John were played by British actor Roy Dotrice. The series was written by Wolf Mankowitz and Marc Miller. In the United States, the series was shown in 1977.
The series of 13 episodes of 60 minutes was directed by Michael Ferguson and Marc Miller, who was also the series' producer, with David Cunliffe as executive producer. Mankowitz's book, Dickens of London, published by Weidenfeld and Nicolson in 1976, was based on the detailed research he made while writing the screenplay.

Background

Each of the 13 episodes of Dickens of London is a flashback, with Charles Dickens, by now an internationally famous novelist, in America during a reading tour of 1869, looking back over his life. Dickens the boy is shown unhappily pasting labels onto pots of shoe blacking, while Dickens as a young man is revealed as a genius who is becoming aware of his powers and trying to find his way in the world. Mary Hogarth is the middle one of the three Hogarth daughters and is portrayed as the one person with whom Dickens seems to have been able to share his work. She dies suddenly aged seventeen and Dickens wears her ring on his little finger for the rest of his life. Georgina Hogarth, the youngest of the three Hogarth daughters, comes to live with the couple to help run the household, at the request of her oldest sister Catherine Dickens. The relationship Dickens developed with the young actress Ellen Ternan is not mentioned in the series, nor is Dickens' separation from his wife, Catherine, in 1858. The series is mainly concerned with the influence upon Dickens of his improvident father, John Dickens, who was a Naval clerk and who always spent more than he earned. He is portrayed as an alcoholic and it is suggested that this was the source of the family's financial difficulties. The script includes passages from Dickens' works, woven into the dialogue, creating signposts for readers of Dickens' work.

Episodes

  • Episode 1: Mask
  • Episode 2: The Deed
  • Episode 3: Blacking
  • Episode 4: Love
  • Episode 5: Success
  • Episode 6: Fame
  • Episode 7: Money
  • Episode 8: Possession
  • Episode 9: Dreams
  • Episode 10: Magic
  • Episode 11: Nightmare
  • Episode 12: Angel
  • Episode 13: Memories

Cast