Tuesday was the bicentenary of the birth of Charles Dickens, and I must confess that I haven't read any of his books.
That's not entirely true - I've read a Christmas Carol and a couple of his other ghost stories, but the rest of his great works, Oliver Twist, David Copperfield etc, remain unopened.
I did tentatively start 'Great Expectations', but I never ventured pass Miss Havisham and her mouldy wedding breakfast. One thing I did enjoy though, was the BBC adaption of Bleak House.
Bleak House has a complex plot (which I won't do justice trying to explain in this Blog) which centres around the heroine, Esther Summerson (played by Anna Maxwell-Martin) and her search for her parents' identity.
Costume dramas (particularly the Austin variety) can sometimes have a 'fluffy' feel to them, but this was very different. A dark brooding story set against the hopeless background of the London chancery courts - where families are broken by endless legal quarrels.
The adaption featured an all star cast, with Charles Dance, as sinister lawyer Tulkinghorn, and Gillian Anderson (in a very 'un-Scully' role) as tragic Lady Deadlock.
So what am I waiting for? Grab a copy, get reading, and reacquaint myself with characters such as 'Conversation' Kenge, Harold Skimpole and the sleuthing Inspector Bucket.
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