Thoughts on BBC Radio 4's 'Little Dorrit'

I had high hopes for the new radio dramatization of one of my very favorite Dickens novels. What I got was a mixed bag. The atmosphere is a good blend of cozy and eerie, and I like the device of having a narrating Charles Dickens thinking his way through the story as he tells it. But adapter Mike Walker took it upon himself to take a number of liberties with plot and characters. Amy is too feisty, Arthur too hapless, and astonishingly, the characters of Mr. Meagles and Mr. Merdle have been combined into one man (who says "I say" more often than Foghorn Leghorn), for no reason that I can fathom.

One standout character is Affery; Sarah Thom's portrayal hits all the right notes of affection, timidity, confusion, and prescience. Carl Prekopp's Pancks and Lauren Cornelius's Maggy also come off very well. But so many characters have been cut that it does damage to the story; for instance, Arthur can't win Amy's trust by doing Tip a good turn when there's no Tip to do a good turn to. There's too much time spent on events like a party at Mr. Meagles/Merdle's house (and there isn't even a Mrs. Meagles/Merdle to liven it up!) that could have been used to bring in more characters, at least briefly. 

Note that this is a review of episode 1 only (as I did with Hard Times). Episode 2 is up, but I haven't had a chance to listen to it yet. I'm hoping for better pacing and characterization in the upcoming episodes, but I fear that the creative minds have already undermined themselves by stripping the cast down to the bare bones.

Comments

[Ian Miller]

Sadly, I'd say episode 2 was much, much worse. The traducement of poor John Chivery, the bizarre fanfic diversions, and the overdone narrative self psychologizing...even though the 2001 version narrated by Ian McKellan cut a whole heap, I could still recognize it as Little Dorrit. This version...I'm starting to wonder if the ending will even resemble the book. Very sad, given my love of the novel.

[Jane Browne]

It is many years since I read Little Dorrit but remembered it well enough to become increasingly confused and disoriented with this 'adaptation' - travesty would be a more accurate word. Presumably depth and complexity were sacrificed on the altar of brevity but too much has been lost, leaving a muddled cartoon version which may be vaguely 'Dickensian', but does little justice to the author of the novel or the novel itself, and which is unlikely to lead new readers to the real Dickens.

[Gina]

Ian, I just came to the part about John (now Dick) Chivery, and oh, dear. I'm not even the world's biggest John Chivery fan ... but oh, DEAR. That feels terribly unfair.

[Ian Miller]

I do love John Chivery, but he's very wet and pathetic - on purpose, of course! But him being turned into Dick Chivery and being so gross - that's just awful!

I did finish with episode 3, and it's almost pure fanfic from top to bottom. Every scene makes a vague gesture towards something in Dickens, and then turns around and jumps into a mud puddle, splashing around happily in its own immature self satisfaction.