Dickensian

I've already written a tiny bit about this BBC series, but having watched the whole series wanted to add some more.

I hardly ever have time for television these days, which is bad news for this blog, but after Christmas, when the weather was cold and the nights still dark, seemed the perfect time to watch three BBC series, War and Peace, Dickensian and also (more recently) The Night Manager. Even at a push I can't call two of those murders with a twist, but Dickensian yes.

I love Dickens for reasons I can't fully articulate. I suppose it is partly because I read him at quite a young age (early teens I think), when reading really gripped me and influenced my thoughts. More recently, after a long break (in order to do my degree and PhD) I returned to him and now read his books as an adult. I am trying to read the ones I haven't already. How rich they are! They lend themselves to slow reading, which is ideal for me as I don't read quickly (or consistently) these days. His language is exquisite and his ability to set the scenes almost bring tears to my eyes. It is Dickens' London that keeps me beguiled. I am always trying to find it, and excited when I do. I'm currently very slowly making my way through Our Mutual Friend, which is truly a novel to savour. Embarrassingly, I read Bleak House many years ago and yet had semi-forgotten the plot to the extent that one of the plot twists in Dickensian completely took me by surprise. I am now thinking that I should re-read it.

Dickens' dream

When I first heard about this programme I assumed it would be a feature length or maybe a three-parter at most, and was therefore bemused to discover it was a twenty-part series in half hour episodes - apart from the last. I had a bad feeling about it, probably that it would be horribly cliched and somehow such a pastiche that it would be comical in a bad way (I am not underestimating the humour in Dickens). After all, many of his plot lines are very serious and often dark too. The theme music is a huge cliche, borrowed from Hans Zimmer's Sherlock Holmes and Ripper Street for that 'Victorian' sound.

However, I began to enjoy it as a murder mystery almost straight away. Stephen Rea as "the Detective" Mr Bucket was a sheer joy to watch in the role.  He has a side kick in the person of Omid Djalili, whose understanding of science helps him with forensics.

As the series continued, I increasingly warmed to the characters, and although at first the references to Dickens' novels seemed like in-jokes for the better-read viewers, by the end of the series I realised that a person who really loved Dickens would really love this, because the writers and production team had somehow managed to reach to the heart of what makes Dickens good and re-create it.

I have a no spoilers rule on this blog, and all the more so here since I don't want to include spoilers for Dickens novels too, but the interweaving of the main storyline with the sub-plots was very cleverly done.

There were some great performances. I will mention Tuppence Middleton's brilliant performance in particular. She was playing a morally good, sweet woman in Dickensian alongside an unpleasant and immoral woman in War and Peace and carried it off with great success. One had sympathy for both women.

Some specific points emerged for me in particular. One was the huge difficulties that women experienced in the Victorian era. Some of the scenes (with Nancy and Fagin, Miss Havisham, Honoria etc) brought tears to my eyes. Another point, following on from that, was Dickens' passion for social justice and his keen understanding of what being born to poverty could mean. Another was what a keen observer of human beings he was (something he has in common with Austen and actually, JK Rowling). Psychological portraits were actually right at the centre of Dickensian, despite it also being wonderful family viewing. There is also a great deal of humour in the novels, and so too in the television series. 

I'm sure children of school age as well as adults could enjoy it and learn a great deal about British history from it. 

I am really excited for a second series!