In a series of solo performances, actor Simon Callow recreates the celebrated public readings of author Charles Dickens.
Embodying the great author himself, Simon Callow (Simon Callow) performs dramatic readings from some of Charles Dickens’s most famous works. The serial is structured as a recreation of the theatrical reading tours that Dickens undertook in his later life. Presented to a live audience, the performances include the chilling murder of Nancy from Oliver Twist, a two-part adaptation of A Christmas Carol, the farcical courtroom scene from The Pickwick Papers, and the story of the travelling salesman, Doctor Marigold.
This production serves as a vehicle for Simon Callow, a renowned interpreter of Dickens’s work. By stripping away the familiar conventions of period drama, the series puts the focus squarely on the power of the author’s prose and the theatricality of a solo performance. The direction by Tom Kinninmont captures the intimate yet charged atmosphere of a 19th-century reading, allowing the actor to conjure a full cast of characters through voice and gesture alone. The result is not simply a literary adaptation, but a work of historical reconstruction that attempts to bring the experience of Dickens the celebrity performer to a modern television audience.
Broadcast: BBC Two, 5 Episodes, 23 December – 30 December 1996
Based on the works of: Charles Dickens
Director: Tom Kinninmont
Producer: Tom Kinninmont
Executive Producer: Roger Thompson
Music: Carl Davis
Main Cast: Simon Callow (Charles Dickens)
