Best-selling author Sebastian Faulks presents a major four part series on the brilliance of the British novel and its characters

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The Villain

4/4 Sebastian Faulks looks at villains in novels and how they have evolved.

Fri 15 Jul 2011 02:15 BBC HD

See all previous episodes from Faulks on Fiction

  • Web exclusive

    Web exclusive

    Watch an exclusive clip of Charlie Higson discussing James Bond.

    Watch the clip

  • Sebastian Faulks Biography

    Sebastian Faulks Biography

    Sebastian Faulks is one of Britain’s best selling authors who has made his name with novels like Birdsong, Charlotte Gray, Engleby, Human Traces and, most recently, A Week in December. Before writing novels he was the literary editor of The Independent newspaper. He is also a regular panellist on Radio Four’s literary quiz programme The Write Stuff.

    Visit Sebastian's official website

  • Free Your Imagination: Books on the BBC

    Free Your Imagination: Books on the BBC

    Find out about the BBC’s major season of programmes focusing on literature on BBC One, BBC Two, BBC Three, BBC Four and BBC Radio 4.

    Visit Books on the BBC website

  • In Their Own Words: British Novelists

    In Their Own Words: British Novelists

    Interviews with remarkable modern writers from the BBC Archive.

    Watch interviews from the BBC archive

  • List of Books and Characters from the series

    HERO

    • Robinson Crusoe, 1719, Daniel Defoe

    • Tom Jones, 1749, Henry Fielding

    • Vanity Fair (Becky Sharp), 1847, William Makepeace Thackeray

    • Sherlock Holmes, 1887, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

    • 1984 (Winston Smith), 1948, George Orwell

    • Lucky Jim (Jim Dixon), 1954, Kingsley Amis

    • Money (John Self), 1984, Martin Amis

    LOVER

    • Pride and Prejudice (Mr Darcy), 1813, Jane Austen

    • Wuthering Heights (Heathcliff), 1847, Emily Brontë

    • Tess of the D’Urbevilles, 1891, Thomas Hardy

    • Lady Chatterley’s Lover (Lady Chatterley), 1928, D.H. Lawrence

    • The End of the Affair (Maurice Bendrix), 1951, Graham Greene

    • The Golden Notebook (Anna Wulf), 1962, Doris Lessing

    • The Line of Beauty (Nick Guest), 2004, Alan Hollinghurst

    SNOB

    • Emma, 1815, Jane Austen

    • Diary of a Nobody (Mr Charles Pooter), 1892, George & Weedon Grossmith

    • Jeeves, 1915, P.G. Wodehouse

    • The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, 1961, Muriel Spark

    • James Bond, 1953, Ian Fleming

    • Brick Lane (Chanu), 2003, Monica Ali

    • Great Expectations (Pip), 1860, Charles Dickens

    VILLAIN

    • Clarissa (Lovelace), 1748, Samuel Richardson

    • Oliver Twist (Fagin), 1838, Charles Dickens

    • A Woman in White (Count Fosco), 1859, Wilkie Collins

    • Gormenghast (Steerpike), 1950, Mervyn Peake

    • Lord of the Flies (Jack), 1954, William Golding

    • The Raj Quartet (Merrick), 1965, Paul Scott

    • Notes on a Scandal (Barbara Covett), 2003, Zoë Heller

  • Faulks On Fiction: Exploring classic characters in literature

    Faulks On Fiction: Exploring classic characters in literature

    Series producer Mary Sackville-West: "Great literary characters have a life beyond the page. You don't need to have read Wuthering Heights or Robinson Crusoe to know who they are and to care about them."

    Read and comment on Mary's post at the BBC TV blog

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