Dickensian

[EElisavetaOfBelsornia]

Anyone else watching? I am really enjoying it, and have either read more Dickens than I realised, or at least the right books.
I had always imagined Little Nell to be a bit younger though.

"Isn't Honoria lucky that her father hasn't just turned her out?"

I thought he was still in debtor's prison.

I thought that Sir Leicester had paid the debts & that he was out & away on business.

I suppose the used thing would have been for them to marry before the baby was due?

I suppose the plan of them marrying after was done in this case to fit in with Bleak House?

I thought Frances meant Honoria to have the baby on secret and give it away in secret so Sir L never found out and they could still marry and save the family fortunes.

Her father knows. There was a family crisis meeting. He was as ok about it as could be expected. Better than Frances was.

I still think they will leave everyone ready for their novel - so Honoria, broken, will become Lady Dedlock and Miss Havisham will be abandoned on her wedding day. And little Esther will grow up...

It would seem odd not to wouldn't it?

Unless they are thinking of some reimaginings of the novels also!

I found the childbirth episode one of the most gripping, shocking, moving and upsetting things I've ever seen on television.

With this, Happy Valley and Ripper Street it's my firm belief we're living in a golden age of television.

I haven't been moved like this by a mere film for a long time.

I keep hoping they will subvert the source novels. Honoria recovers her baby and The Captain and they marry and live a quiet, frugal life with little Esther. Miss Havisham comes to her senses and waits for Matthew Pocket to come back from the Far East. Bill doesn't ... do what he does in Oliver Twist.

I can't bear to think of the three young women having the fate of the source characters.

MorrisZapp I agree with your post and add "War And Peace" to your list.

I'm going to be so sad when this finishes, though I did see someone from Dickensian talking on BBC breakfast (sorry I missed who she was) and she said there may well be a second series.

she said there may well be a second series

Oooh I do hope so

Oh, yes, War and Peace was glorious. Have be trying to persuade my 17-year-old daughter that it is worth watching for the Natasha plot line alone.

I am re-, re-reading Bleak House and I must say that Dickensian makes the Lady Dedlock and Esther scenes so poignant. There is one scene where Esher visits the squalid room in which Nemo has recently died and she feels an awful sense of loss and despair, without knowing why.

Excellent episode tonight.

Yay, for Inspector Bucket.

Yes yay Bucket.

And Arthur, oh dear- have some backbone boy.

Arthur is so frustrating! I shouted "You Coward!" twice tonight. Compeyson will no doubt know that Matthew will try to stop him and will once again sabotage him somehow.

I still can't believe Mrs Cratchit dealt the fatal blow.

Why is Mr Venus being so helpful to the Cratchits?

Maybe he's just nice? But interesting thought.

Telly drama at its height. Superlative stuff.

And I want a pinkish furry hooded hobbity cloak like Miss Hav's. I'd look smokin' in one like that. And adorably cosy too.

Even better, one of the production team says "We’re beginning to think about plot lines for a possible second series - whose backstory would you like to see?"
(Comment 47 on BBC Blog)

HaHA! Whoooooo should we ask for?

But the desk sergeant used the expression 'OK', I think, when Mrs Cr was brought in.

Perhaps anachronisms don't matter.

Whose back story would you like to see?

Eugene Wrayburn, please.
I always wondered how he came to be so disinterested in the world around him, with the exception of Mortimer. When did they meet? Why did they get on when Eugene was so unimpressed with everyone else? Could there have been any clues in his back story to reinforce our understanding of why Lizzie Hexam sparked him into life?

I've really enjoyed Dickensian and could very happily watch a second series answering those questions.

But the desk sergeant used the expression 'OK', I think, when Mrs Cr was brought in.
Perhaps anachronisms don't matter.

I can't say with certainty that OK was around right back to the 1840s (? - is that when this is meant to be set?), but it's been around at least since late Victorian time. I'll look it up in the morning. >tired-icon

The whole Anoria story line is heartbreaking.

She's only just lost her baby and they are trying to get her married off. How brutal life must have been for many woman at this time.
I hate her sister and father.

The setting is interesting, time-wise, as BH, although written mid-century, was probably set earlier in the century pre- Queen Victoria. Same, I believe, with Great Exoectations.

The dresses, bonnets and coats seem to be mid-century.

One of the things I love about Patrick Stewart's Christmas Carol is seeing the Georgian and Regency clothing in the Christmas Past scenes - it might not seem like fashion moved fast, but that was a time of great upheaval in so many ways.

Sorry, bit of a fabric slut over here.

I love that Quality Street era fashion that is around just before Victoria. William IV fashion, I suppose it is. Now there is a monarch who seems to get squashed out of historical memory.