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Armando Iannucci presents a personal argument in praise of the genius of Charles Dickens. Through the prism of the author's most autobiographical novel, David Copperfield, Armando looks beyond Dickens - the national institution - and instead explores the qualities of Dickens's work that still make him one of the best British writers. While Dickens is often celebrated for his powerful depictions of Victorian England and his role as a social reformer, this programme foregrounds the elements of his writing which make him worth reading, as much for what he tells us about ourselves in the twenty-first century as our ancestors in the nineteenth. Armando argues that Dickens's remarkable use of language and his extraordinary gift for creating characters make him a startlingly experimental and psychologically penetrating writer who demands not just to be adapted for television but to be read and read again.
Directed by Deborah Lee

Armando Iannucci
Self

Phill Jupitus
Self

Kevin Eldon
Self

John Meriton
Self

Barry Cryer
Self

Josie Long
Self

Ian Hurley
Self

Anthony Arlidge
Self

Judge John Lafferty
Self

Ellis Sareen
Self
Claude Lelouch, la vie en mieux
2025