''David Copperfield'' is a British six-part television serial of the 1850

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian er ...

novel adapted by Hugh Whitemore, directed by Joan Craft and first shown on

BBC 1 BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, ...

in weekly parts from 1 December 1974 to 5 January 1975. It was a co-production with Time-Life Television Productions. It is the earliest BBC adaptation to exist in its entirety. The 1956 adaptation is completely lost, whilst only four of the 1966 adaptation's episodes are known to exist.

Plot

For a detailed plot, see ''

David Copperfield (novel) ''David Copperfield'' Dickens invented over 14 variations of the title for this work, see is a novel in the bildungsroman genre by Charles Dickens, narrated by the eponymous David Copperfield, detailing his adventures in his journey from inf ...

''.

Cast

* Jonathan Kahn as

David Copperfield ''David Copperfield'' Dickens invented over 14 variations of the title for this work, see is a novel in the bildungsroman genre by Charles Dickens, narrated by the eponymous David Copperfield, detailing his adventures in his journey from inf ...

(child) * David Yelland as

(adult) * Martin Jarvis as Uriah Heep *

Arthur Lowe Arthur Lowe (22 September 1915 – 15 April 1982) was an English actor. His acting career spanned 36 years, including starring roles in numerous theatre and television productions. He played Captain Mainwaring in the British sitcom '' D ...

Wilkins Micawber Wilkins Micawber is a clerk in Charles Dickens's 1850 novel '' David Copperfield''. He is traditionally identified with the optimistic belief that "something will turn up." His role in the story Micawber was incarcerated in debtors' prison (t ...

. * David Troughton as Ham Peggotty * Ian Hogg as Dan Peggotty *

Timothy Bateson Timothy Dingwall Bateson (3 April 1926 – 15 September 2009) was an English actor. Life and career Born in London, the son of solicitor Dingwall Latham Bateson and the great-nephew of rugby player Harold Dingwall Bateson, he was educated at ...

as Mr. Dick * Patience Collier as Betsey Trotwood *

Anthony Andrews Anthony Colin Gerald Andrews (born 12 January 1948) is an English actor. He played Lord Sebastian Flyte in the ITV miniseries '' Brideshead Revisited'' (1981), for which he won Golden Globe and BAFTA television awards, and was nominated for ...

as Steerforth *

Patricia Routledge Dame Katherine Patricia Routledge, (; born 17 February 1929) is an English actress, singer and broadcaster. For her role as Hyacinth Bucket in the BBC sitcom '' Keeping Up Appearances'' (1990–1995), she was nominated for the BAFTA TV Awar ...

as Mrs. Micawber * Pat Keen as Peggotty

Critical reception

This version was generally well received. In

Clive James Clive James (born Vivian Leopold James; 7 October 1939 – 24 November 2019) was an Australian critic, journalist, broadcaster, writer and lyricist who lived and worked in the United Kingdom from 1962 until his death in 2019.The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the ...

'' he wrote: "''David Copperfield'' is as good as everybody says. Steerforth's flaw is well conveyed by Anthony Andrews, and Uriah Heep, played by Martin Jarvis, is a miracle of unction: to hear him talk is like stepping on a toad long dead. But Arthur Lowe's Micawber is better than anything. He follows

W. C. Fields William Claude Dukenfield (January 29, 1880 – December 25, 1946), better known as W. C. Fields, was an American comedian, actor, juggler, and writer. Fields's comic persona was a misanthropic and hard-drinking egotist who remained a sympathet ...

in certain respects, but is graciously spoken; and his gestures are as delicate as

Oliver Hardy Oliver Norvell Hardy (born Norvell Hardy; January 18, 1892 – August 7, 1957) was an American comic actor and one half of Laurel and Hardy, the double act that began in the era of silent films and lasted from 1926 to 1957. He appeared with his ...

's. Not that his performance is eclectic - it is a subtle unity like everything he attempts."Clive James ''

Visions Before Midnight ''Visions Before Midnight'' is a selection of the television criticism written by Clive James during his first four years (1972–1976) as ''The Observers weekly television critic. The selection begins with a piece on the 1972 Summer Olympics ...

'', p.112. Fields played Micawber in the 1935 film version.

References

External links

* * {{David Copperfield BBC television dramas 1974 British television series debuts 1975 British television series endings Television shows based on David Copperfield