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Last broadcast on Fri, 10 Feb 2012, 19:45 on BBC Radio 4 (see all broadcasts).
Synopsis
by Michael Eaton
Dickens is an old man now, though he's not even sixty. His aching feet draw him irresistibly towards London's East End. All around he sees the same want and ignorance he wrote about all those years ago.
Why is he doing all these public readings? He can fool himself that it's because he wants the contact with his readers - no writer before him has ever had such an adoring Public - but is there another reason ?
Based on A Small Star in the East and On An Amateur Beat - written in 1869; and the reading of Sikes and Nancy - first given on his reading tour in 1868 and performed finally in 1870, three months before his death.
Inimitable ..... Antony Sher
Young Gentleman / Younger Self ..... Samuel Barnett
Mamie / Nurse ..... Sally Orrock
Creature ..... Ryan Watson
Dolby / Cabbie ..... Brian Bowles
Little Girl / Child ..... Deeivya Meir
Music by Neil Brand.
Watch a film of this episode
A cross-platform project between artist film-maker Chris Newby and writer Michael Eaton forms a biographical portrait of Dickens’s life through words, film and Dickensian puppets.
A BBC Radio Drama and Film London Artists’ Moving Image Network co-production in association with Arts Council England.
Broadcasts
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Fri 10 Feb 201210:45
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Fri 10 Feb 201219:45
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