Dickensblog

A history of Scrooge

Entertainment site Mxdwn.com has a very interesting article about the various movie, TV, and radio adaptations of A Christmas Carol over the years. Want to know who was the first actor to play Scrooge onscreen? Or who was the first writer to Americanize him? Or what one condition Michael Caine had for playing him? Click here to find out!

BritBox to stream 'Dickensian'

The subscription VOD service here in the United States will offer the show starting December 1, as part of its "BritMas" lineup.

New series of Dickens adaptations coming from BBC One

Steven Knight, Tom Hardy, and Ridley Scott have signed on with BBC One to produce adaptations of several Dickens novels for television. First up is a three-part version of A Christmas Carol -- but we'll all have to be patient, as it's not set to air until Christmas 2019. There's no word yet on what other novels are being adapted for this project, and we also don't know whether Hardy will appear onscreen in any of them. Deadline, The Hollywood Reporter, and Bleeding Cool have the details.

Which novels are you hoping to see adapted as part of this series?

Hard times for the 'Little Dorrit' church

The Church of St. George the Martyr in Bermondsey -- the model for the church in which Amy Dorrit was baptized, spent a night when locked out of the Marshalsea, and was married -- is in such poor shape that it has been declared "at risk" by the group Historic England.

A thought on 'The Man Who Invented Christmas'

I wrote a full review of the movie for another website, which will be publishing it this week. I'll put up the link when it's available. But for now, here's one thought on the movie that didn't make its way into the review, but that I wanted to share here. (You'll forgive me if I'm a little sentimental; this is Dickens we're talking about, after all.)

The film -- through its script and direction, and especially through the way Dan Stevens threw himself into the lead role with utter abandon -- brought Dickens so fully to life, with all his flaws and virtues and energy and imagination, that I felt a sense of loss when it was over. I actually missed him, as if he were someone I had met for real, and been friends with, and then had to leave.

You can't ask more of a biopic than that.

Another take on the writing of 'A Christmas Carol'

On Boise State Public Radio, Samantha Silva discusses her debut novel, Mr. Dickens and His Carol. 

Dickens's other Christmas tales

Happy Thanksgiving! In case you're looking for a little reading material for the break and you've already gotten in another Christmas Carol reading, Cemetery Gates Media has a new review of Dickens's other, lesser-known Christmas books. 

'The Man Who Invented Christmas' opens in the U.S.

The movie is off to a good start, with a current 92% rating on review aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes (93% among Top Critics). I'm looking forward to seeing it Friday. If you go, please feel free to share your impressions in the comment sections of this post! Spoilers are allowed.

TIME on the story behind 'The Man'

Kate Samuelson at TIME has written an excellent article on fact vs. fiction in The Man Who Invented Christmas.

Win tickets to the U.K. premiere of 'The Man Who Invented Christmas'

A Dublin radio station is giving away tickets to the film's U.K. premiere, where lucky winners will have a chance to meet the cast. Go here to find out how to win!