Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2919 in DVD
• Released on: 2005-10-24
• Rating: Suitable for 12 years and over
• Formats: Box set, PAL, Colour
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 12

Synopsis
Featuring a box set of the BBC adaptations of popular tales from Charles Dickens. Includes: 'The Pickwick Papers', 'Oliver Twist', 'A Christmas Carol', 'Martin Chuzzlewit', 'David Copperfield', 'A Tale Of Two Cities', 'Great Expectations', and 'Our Mutual Friend'.

Customer Reviews

Great Expectations Satisfied.
This collection features eight complete editions of various Dickens interpretations from the BBC stable, from 1977's "Christmas Carol" through to 1999's "David Copperfield". The total mileage is 1977 minutes, not including various extras. Divide that by the price offered and, however much the price is, it'll still be a bargain.

There are some big stars here, and some who should be or should have been: there are some fine performances in some of the smallest of parts. With eight different directors, the production is uneven, and some series suffered from smaller budgets than others, but there is not a duff series among them. If I had to choose a worst, then "David Copperfield" over-eggs an already mawkish pie (and is top-heavy in big names). The best? Well, "Great Expectations" has a wonderful atmosphere, especially out on the marshes. But top of the tree for me is "Martin Chuzzlewit" with fantastic humour in every nuance.

Incomplete!
Although I have only just bought this and haven't even seen one programme yet I can remember some of the adaptations.
Martin Cuzzzlewit and Our Mutual Friend were good but the David Copperfield is far too short. I can remember the version from the 1970's featuring the brilliant Arthur Lowe as a memorable Micawber - a part he was born to play. Surely this more comprehensively faithful version should have been featured rather than the abridged more recent one? Also why not include Nicholas Nickleby and Bleak House, two of Dicken's major novels which are unaccountably omitted. I realise this collection came out too early to feature the recent excellent adaptation of Bleak House, but surely they could have included the fine version from the 1980's. It would have also have been nice to have The Old Curiosity Shop; there was another excellent 70's versions featuring Trevor Peacock as a superb Quilp.
To reduce the collection slightly they could actually have left out Christmas Carol, which after all isn't actually a novel, and has been adapted to death!

A rather mixed bag of BBC productions!
I must admit I've never really been a fan of Dickens or period dramas. I imagined that this would be value for money and to be honest it is. However it shows the mixtures of well scripted, and exciting portrayals of Dicken's now famous characters, with some very awful or dull presentations. Great Expectations and Our Mutual Friend both vere on the side of being two modern bbc dramas having the ability to put even the strongest of fans into a coma. Also David Copperfield featuring the very young Daniel Radcliffe is a usual porduction laden with 'the pick and flower' of BBC talent is short and a disappointment.
It is interesting that the earlier one goes back in bbc productions in this collection the better they are, Pickwick Papers, Oliver Twist, Tale of Two Cities and A Christmas Carol (unfortunately appears to be made on shoe string of a budget) are the pick of the crop, with Martin Chuzzlewit being the only really enjoyable modern drama.
Instead with such classics like Expectations we see great actors being put to waste and stories being almost butchered for time constraints, the ending in Expectations being the one serious let down.
Our Mutual Friend which has an air of New Labours attack on class at the time is both dull and let down by the over acting of Paul McGann although boyed by the amazing talents of David Morrissey, Keeley Hawes and Anna Friel. The story stumbles across almost 6 hours of one of the weakest of Dicken's stories (in my very limited opinion).
Although I would never normally admit to such a thing I think the Davies' production of Bleak House was one of the best presentations of a Dicken's story. Beleive me I'm not totally against it but not all productions give Dickens justice especially for a person who has only started reading all his books.