By Dickens: the best screen adaptations ever…

He was born 200 years ago and his work has never been out of print. Charles Dickens’ influence reaches far and wide.

Who can forget Andrew Lloyd-Webber’s hunt for a Nancy in the BBC talent show I’d Do Anything a few years ago? And did you know that Paul Abbott, creator of Shameless, is heavily influenced by Dickens? Being serious now… Dickens, as you know, has influenced many literary greats including T.S.Elliot and James Joyce. Many say he invented most of our Christmas traditions.

“Behind the pantomime, he sneaks in unpopular social analysis,” Paul Abbott told BBC News. “He was making the world want to read about the British underclass.”

Evil and poverty were his major themes (Britain didn’t have a welfare state when Dickens was writing in the Victorian era).

But which of his books still stand the test of time on the small and big screen? Here are a few of the most memorable to whet your appetite:

Great Expectations (film 1946)

Few subsequent adaptations can hold a candle to David Lean’s masterpiece starring John Mills as Pip and Finlay Currie as Magwitch. In a respectful nod, ITV attempted it in their 1989 mini-series when they cast Jean Simmons, who’d played Estella in Lean’s film, as Miss Havisham. Anthony Hopkins played Magwitch that time. And of course, Ray Winstone’s mesmerising Magwitch and Gillian Anderson’s rather youthful Miss Havisham in the BBC’s recent adaptation stick in the mind.

Oliver Twist (film 1948)

One of Dickens’ most famous novels. “Please sir, can I have some more,” says it all. Perhaps the most famous adaptation of the 20 odd so far is David Lean’s 1948 film in which he assembled many of the original production team from his hit Great Expectations. Lean’s wife at the time, Kay Walsh, plays Nancy while Alec Guinness is an unforgettably menacing Fagin. While the 1968 musical Oliver! featuring Ron Moody as Fagin, Mark Lester as Oliver and Oliver Reed as Bill Sikes, won six Oscars.
 

David Copperfield (BBC 1999)

Probably the most autobiographical of all of Dickens’ novels, David Copperfield follows the major life events of the lead character. This two part adaptation has a stellar cast including Maggie Smith, Trevor Eve, Imelda Staunton, Ian Mckellen and a very young Daniel Radcliffe in his first screen role, pre-Potter days.

Bleak House (BBC 2005)

Andrew Davies’ 15 part epic screenplay is said to be one of the best ever TV adaptations of a Dickens novel. It has a stand-out cast (Charles Dance, Gillian Anderson, Timothy West, Carey Mulligan), a huge production budget (apparently around £8m) and all the gripping, grimy drama of a Victorian soap. It won Best Drama Serial and Best Actress (Anna Maxwell Martin playing Esther Summerson) Baftas in 2006.

Little Dorrit (BBC 2008)

Period drama adaptation king Andrew Davies worked his magic once again to produce a 14 episode Victorian saga charting the adventures of Amy Dorrit and her family who start out living in the Marshalsea Prison for Debt, where Dickens’ own father spent time. The series won seven Emmy awards including outstanding mini-series despite not achieving as much critical acclaim as Davies’ earlier adaptation of Bleak House. Matthew Macfadyen and Tom Courtenay were praised for their performances.

What’s your favourite Dickens adaptation and why? Let us know below.