Little Dorrit (2008)
Genre: Drama
Synopsis: A BBC Drama Productions large scale and ambitious adaptation of Charles Dickens' classic Little Dorrit written by Andrew Davies for BBC One.
Little Dorrit tells the story of the Dorrit family and the rich array of characters they encounter on their way from rags to riches and back again.
Our story starts with the birth of a baby in the Marshalsea debtor's prison. This is Amy Dorrit, child of the Marshalsea, daughter of William Dorrit, who is still in prison when we rejoin the story 20 years on.
Into their lives comes the dashing and adventurous Arthur Clennam, returning to London after many long years in China and desperate to carry out the task set by his father on his death bed: "Put it right Arthur. Your mother. Put it right."
When he sees 20-year-old Amy working for his formidable mother Mrs Clennam, a woman not ordinarily given to charity, he begins to scent a connection.
Thus begins a journey from powerless to powerful, as the Dorrits' fortunes rise and fall along with those of a cross-section of London society.
Landlords and rent collectors, plasterers, bankers, turnkeys, prisoners, gentlemen and paupers, wastrels and dancing girls, engineers, artists, dowagers and butlers, and a charismatic French villain – all trip in and out of the story as Arthur and Amy walk the rocky road to love.
Matthew Macfayen Role: Arthur Clennam
The hero of the tale is Arthur Clennam, a middle-aged man for whom Little Dorrit (Amy Dorrit) feels a great passion that he does not immediately requite. The story follows their luck in receiving a fortune and becoming affluent and - with the clear exception of Little Dorrit - arrogant. It also shows how outside prison walls there can exist equally confining prisons of our own making, particularly due to aspiration. Clennam ends up in the debtor’s prison where Little Dorrit looks after him and there emerges an interesting but complex mystery concerning Clennam’s gloomy and religious mother, her partner, conspiracy and a will that has not benefited its rightful beneficiaries.
Status: Like many other well-loved Dickens novels, Little Dorrit was published serially over 19 instalments, and this 15-part series (1x60 and 14x30) will mirror that approach, with a scheduling pattern similar to that of Bleak House.
Filming will begin in April 2008 in the UK.
The new show is expected to be on screen in the fall of 2008 and like Bleak House, which cost £8 million, will be broadcast twice-weekly, immediately after EastEnders.
The soap opera approach with cliffhanger endings has proved popular with viewers and critics and is in keeping with the style in which Dickens intended his work to be read. Little Dorrit was published in monthly installments between 1855-7.
External Links:
And we are all delighted to be welcoming Matthew Macfadyen back to BBC One, he will bring charisma, charm, intelligence and talent to our hero Arthur Clennam.
BBC Press Release, Cast Announcement
Read the abridged version online
An informative site about the book
Darcylicious Links:
Little Dorrit News Articles and Media
Available for purchase:
Amazon US: paperback book Little Dorrit by Charles Dickens
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Clennam -- dashing and adventurous? Not according to the book I read. I hope this doesn't end up with a rake in the lead role such as happened with Jane Eyre's Rochester in 2006. Two humble people who have been suppressed by their respective circumstances and who eventually find each other while much of the focus of the story is on the people around them and through whom they become the most important characters. I look forward to your work.
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Submitted by Ken (not verified) on Tue, 2008-05-13 18:18.