Dickensblog

'A Christmas Carol' on TV

In accordance with our usual tradition, here is this year's list of Christmas Carol airings! As always, keep checking back for updates, and let us know if you come across any that I've missed. All times are Eastern.

• Scrooge (1935, starring Seymour Hicks): December 23 at 6 a.m., TCM
• A Christmas Carol (1938, starring Reginald Owen): December 2 at 8:30 a.m., TCM
• Scrooge, a.k.a. A Christmas Carol (1951, starring Alastair Sim): December 23 at 10 p.m., TCM
• A Christmas Carol (1984, starring George C. Scott): December 3 at 6:45 and 9:45 a.m.; December 11 at 2:25 and 5:25 p.m.; December 14 at 8 and 11 a.m., HBO2
• A Christmas Carol (1999, starring Patrick Stewart): December 3 at 8 p.m., Get TV
• Disney's A Christmas Carol (2009, starring Jim Carrey): December 7 at 9:50 p.m.; December 8 at 2:20 p.m.; December 12 at 9 p.m., Freeform

TCM alert

David Copperfield (1935) will air at 7:30 this morning (Sunday). 

TCM alert

I almost missed this (sorry!) but Oliver! starts at 5:15 p.m. Eastern on the channel.

Dickens in Syria

In this interview with Radio Times, Ayeesha Menon talks about her new radio play that updates A Tale of Two Cities and places it in modern Syria. The first part of A Tale of Two Cities: Aleppo and London will air tomorrow on BBC Radio 4. We Americans will be able to hear it here, shortly after the broadcast. 

Dickens in 'The Terror'

Charles Dickens turns up as a character in AMC miniseries "The Terror," which begins tomorrow night. The 10-episode series is based on the ill-fated Franklin expedition to the Arctic in 1845. As you may know, Dickens tried to help Sir John Franklin's wife, Lady Jane Franklin, rehabilitate her husband's reputation after the expedition met its end -- not in very creditable ways, unfortunately. But from what I can make out from this New York Times review, the show has Dickens involved even earlier, trying to help organize rescue operations. 

(Interestingly, the source material for "The Terror" is a novel by Dan Simmons, who wrote another novel in which Dickens played a role!)

IMDb lists Tristan Teller as the actor who plays Dickens, in only one episode of the ten. Though IMDb isn't always completely accurate about these things, they may be right in this case, as Dickens would be a minor character in the saga. So don't expect to see a lot of him. But it might still be interesting to see how he's portrayed!

One more Dickens-Franklin connection, incidentally, is that the expedition inspired The Frozen Deep, which in turn inspired A Tale of Two Cities.

TCM alert

Oliver! airs at 1:30 a.m. tonight, as part of the channel's "31 Days of Oscar" feature.

R.I.P. Emma Chambers

The British actress, who played Charity Pecksniff in the 1994 TV adaptation of Martin Chuzzlewit, passed away last week at the age of 53.

TCM alert

Great Expectations (1946) is airing at 9 a.m. Eastern today (Wednesday). 

TCM alert

In yet more Oliver! news, the film is airing today at 12 p.m. Eastern. 

TCM alert

Happy New Year! David Copperfield (1935) will air on TCM at 2:45 a.m. Eastern tomorrow (Tuesday). 

CORRECTION: I should have said 2:45 Wednesday morning. Apologies!