Hot on the heels of Dominic's audiobook of George Silverman's Explanation comes the discussion with Dr. Emily Middleton (formerly Bell) … who we’ve met before in the episodes on Oliver Twist and The Lazy Tour of Two Idle Apprentices … Emily is working on George Silverman, and other rarer Dickens stories for Oxford University Press, and has just published The Verse of Charles of Dickens for Edinburgh University Press which she has co-authored with Dr Lydia Craig. ( There is a joint episode on thi...
May 16, 2025•43 min
Dominic reads George Silverman's Explanation - one of Dickens' rarer short stories - ahead of an upcoming discussion with Dr. Emily Middleton ... Support the show If you'd like to make a donation to support the costs of producing this series you can buy 'coffees' right here https://www.buymeacoffee.com/dominicgerrard Thank you so much! Host: Dominic Gerrard Series Artwork: Léna Gibert Original Music: Dominic Gerrard Thank you for listening!...
May 12, 2025•1 hr 17 min
Here are two fragments that didn't make the cut in the previous episode on THE PICKWICK PAPERS ... Prof. Hugo Bowles talks about the afterlife of Pickwick & Gina Beck reads an extract where Pickwick is observed from a window by a Scientific Gentleman! Support the show If you'd like to make a donation to support the costs of producing this series you can buy 'coffees' right here https://www.buymeacoffee.com/dominicgerrard Thank you so much! Host: Dominic Gerrard Series Artwork: Léna Gibert Or...
Apr 22, 2025•7 min
Dominic is joined by the inimitable Prof. Hugo Bowles who is currently working the OUP edition of The Pickwick Papers to guide us through this riot of a novel - if it is a novel ? Hugo is an alumnus of both Oxford and Cambridge where he read English, Classics and Applied Linguistics. For over three decades he lectured at four Italian Universities and is the author of Dickens and Stenographic Mind (published by Edinburgh University Press). We last caught up with Hugo in his joint episodes with Dr...
Apr 21, 2025•49 min
Today’s episode is A Tale of Two Podcasts where Dominic teams up with Jordan Evans-Hill : creator and host of the Charles Dickens Museum’s Inimitable podcast. Here Jordan takes the listener on a tour inside number 48 Doughty St - the house where Dickens lived and worked as he completed Pickwick, wrote the entirety of Oliver Twist & Nicholas Nickleby and began Barnaby Rudge … Jordan is a former footman from the Royal Household where he served the late Queen Elizabeth II. He is also a writer, ...
Feb 07, 2025•33 min
Dominic has helped create a sister podcast to mark the 250th Anniversary of Jane Austen's birth! A Jane Austen Year is told by the people that work at Jane Austen’s House - the idyllic Hampshire cottage, in the south of England, where Jane Austen wrote her world famous novels. On the first of every month a new episode of letters, scenes from the novels, recipes & talks about the objects in the house, will be published. And every sound you hear - including the birds - were recorded in Jane Au...
Jan 10, 2025•1 min
Welcome to Part Two of Dominic and John Bowen's journey through A Christmas Carol ... With readings again from Hollie Hales and violin parts performed by Alexis Bennett . HAPPY CHRISTMAS !!! Support the show If you'd like to make a donation to support the costs of producing this series you can buy 'coffees' right here https://www.buymeacoffee.com/dominicgerrard Thank you so much! Host: Dominic Gerrard Series Artwork: Léna Gibert Original Music: Dominic Gerrard Thank you for listening!...
Dec 28, 2024•53 min
It’s Christmas Eve, and Dominic takes a deep dive with you all through A Christmas Carol . Returning to the series is the inimitable Prof. John Bowen (who recently worked on David Edgar’s Carol adaptation for the RSC) and who like many of us, re-reads this ghostly little book every Christmas and has pondered its power and meaning for decades. The Carol Philosophy that Dickens expresses so generously in this story is truly universal: everyone has a chance to change and not be fixed, or branded, a...
Dec 24, 2024•55 min
*This episode focuses on the theme of domestic violence* Dominic shares a bonus fragment from his last interview with Dr. Lydia Craig on The Haunted Man and The Ghost's Bargain ... It is a moment in the story where Redlaw comes across ‘a woman sitting on the stairs, either asleep or forlorn’ and ‘whose head’ is ‘bent down on her hands and knees.’ Redlaw sees that her arms are ‘black, her face cut, and her bosom bruised.’ It’s a deeply powerful, moment in the story, that reveals Dickens’ compassi...
Dec 24, 2024•5 min
Todays episode is on Dickens’ final Christmas Book The Haunted Man and the Ghost’s Bargain . A deeply powerful story, where the chemist, Stephen Redlaw is offered the chance to forget all his painful memories by a Phantom who is a ghastly copy of himself drawn from the shadows in his study. Redlaw accepts the ghost’s bargain … but then faces a desperate struggle to have this spell lifted again, when to his horror he discovers that his new gift has a 'King Midas' quality of infecting everyone he ...
Dec 13, 2024•54 min
This episode marks the 3rd birthday of Charles Dickens: A Brain on Fire! 🔥 In this first Christmas episode for 2024 Dominic is joined again by the critically acclaimed author, broadcaster, and art-historian Lucinda Hawksley . And as they return to Dickens’ Christmas books their focus this time is on the illustrations found in each of them. Many of you will of course be familiar with the name of John Leech, who’s images for A Christmas Carol are now inseparable from Scrooge’s story, and how we p...
Dec 07, 2024•48 min
Dominic is joined today by the inimitable Professor Ian Haywood , of the Centre for Inclusive Humanities at the University of Roehampton . Together they delve into the astonishing 'Riots of Eighty' that gripped London for a week and were brought thrillingly to life in Dickens' Barnaby Rudge ... Ian is a specialist in the radical politics and visual culture of the period of 1750-1850, and has published extensively on that period in books such as Bloody Romanticism: Spectacular Violence and The Po...
Jun 04, 2024•51 min
Dominic is joined again by the inimitable Dr. Pete Orford for Part II of his examination of The Mystery of Edwin Drood .. . Pete’s book Edwin Drood: Charles Dickens’ Unfinished Novel And Our Endless Attempts To End It … (Pen & Sword books) is our guide throughout. It is a hugely entertaining read where scholarly citations and tomfoolery combine with vibrant illustrations by Alys Jones … there is a link purchase this in the description. And reading extracts today, it is an honour to welcome t...
May 15, 2024•41 min
Dominic is joined by the inimitable Emily Howes, author of The Painters Daughters , who is currently writing her second book, Mrs Dickens , all about the life of Catherine Hogarth and her marriage to Charles Dickens … Emily is an alumna of Cambridge University, where she was a member of the famous Footlights. After gaining a First in English, she studied Lecoq at the London School of Performing Arts. She then went on to create work for theatre, radio and television. Highlights including two seri...
Apr 11, 2024•36 min
Dominic meets Ben Power backstage at London’s National Theatre who takes a break from rehearsals to talk about London Tide - an exciting new staging of Our Mutual Friend - which he has adapted with songs composed by the award-winning PJ Harvey Ben is a Tony Award winning, and a BAFTA & Olivier Award nominated writer for stage and screen, and an Associate here at the National. His adaptation of The Lehman Trilogy, directed by Sam Mendes, has become an international theatrical juggernaut, play...
Apr 04, 2024•30 min
Our final festive extract comes from Dickens’ last Christmas Book The Haunted Man and The Ghost’s Bargain - read today by the fantastic actor Tom Andrews Tom’s screen credits include: This England (for Revolution films & Sky Atlantic), Netflix’s The Strays, Feelgood & Afterlife; HBO’S I Hate Susie and the BBC’s Show Trial … His stage work includes the Royal National Theatre production of Major Barbara and The Accidental Death of an Anarchist in London’s West End In the following scene Dr...
Jan 02, 2024•10 min
Happy 6th Day of Christmas! Today’s guest is the wonderful Rebecca Tanwen reading for us the opening pages of Dickens’ 4th Christmas book The Battle of Life … The story opens with a wide shot of an ancient battle ground, where the traces of the fight have lingered through the centuries, not only in the earth but in the minds of the generations that have lived afterwards. The narrative works its way through a kind of time-lapse describing the changing seasons over many decades before settling on ...
Dec 30, 2023•12 min
Happy 5th Day of Christmas! The fantastic actor Tom Bennett reads an excerpt from Dickens’ third Christmas book The Cricket on the Hearth … Caleb Plummer and his daughter Bertha are poor toymakers in the service of the cruel, miserly Tackleton. As the scene unfolds we learn that Caleb’s daughter Bertha is blind, and that her father is constantly trying to shield her from the hardship and poverty of their lives … meanwhile even their poor hearth is visited by a cricket that may yet bring good for...
Dec 29, 2023•13 min
The wonderful actress Carlyss Peer returns to the series to read an excerpt from Dickens' second Christmas Book The Chimes You'll be transported to Trotty's humble abode, feeling the chill of the London streets and the welcoming embrace of his heart as he opens his home to strangers, reminding us of the transformative power of kindness and community. Support the show If you'd like to make a donation to support the costs of producing this series you can buy 'coffees' right here https://www.buymea...
Dec 23, 2023•12 min
Dominic is joined by the inimitable Harry Christophers CBE , founder and conductor of The Sixteen , one of the worlds most revered choral ensembles. With thanks to CORO for these stunning Christmas excerpts: Carol of the Bells Apple / Spotify Pilgrim Jesus Apple / Spotify Of a Rose Apple / Spotify This Have I Done ... Apple / Spotify Lo, How a Rose e'er Blooming Apple / Spotify O Radix Jesse Apple / Spotify Past Three a Clock Apple / Spotify For unto us ... Apple / Spotify Amen ... Apple / Spoti...
Dec 21, 2023•53 min
The wonderful actor Chris Nayak reads the from the First Branch of The Holly-Tree Inn - one of Dickens' rarer Christmas stories … Packed with self-deprecating humour, a fantastic snowy atmosphere, this a very pleasing festive narrative. Chris’ stage credits include King Duncan in Macbeth at the Globe this year, and previously the RSC and West End. His screen work includes Coronation Street and We Hunt Together … So sit back an enjoy this opening excerpt from The Holly Tree Inn Support the show I...
Dec 20, 2023•14 min
Dominic is joined by the wonderful award winning food historian Pen Vogler who returns to the podcast to talk about Dickensian Christmas Dinners ... Focusing on Dickens' five Christmas books - A Christmas Carol, The Chimes, The Cricket on the Hearth, The Battle of Life and The Haunted Man - Pen explores what the characters eat and why. From the Cratchit children 'basking in luxurious thoughts of sage and onion'; Trotty and Meg sharing a dish of a tripe outside on the steps; Edward and May’s wedd...
Dec 20, 2023•41 min
Award-winning actress, comedian, and satirist Rosie Holt returns to the series to read the opening of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol on the 180th anniversary of its publication today in 1843 ... Rosie makes regular appearances on BBC Radio 4 and as a satirist her work is so powerful that half the country seem to think she’s an actual Conservative Member of Parliament. This is both hilarious and deeply worrying. Her podcast, NONCENSORED with Eshaan Akbar and Brendan Murphy , was nominated for...
Dec 19, 2023•11 min
Dominic’s guest today is the inimitable Emma Rutherford who recalls her time working on the rediscovery of a lost portrait of Dickens, painted by Margaret Gillies in 1843, and lost for over a century until its serendipitous reappearance at a South African auction. A pivotal snapshot of Dickens' life, the portrait's story hints at the profound bond between Gillies and Dickens, a bond that may have helped shape A Christmas Carol Emma is an art historian, with a specialisation in portrait miniature...
Dec 19, 2023•40 min
Light up your holiday season with the enchanting narration of our guest, the brilliant Gina Beck as she transports us to the charm and warmth of a festive journey from Charles Dickens' Pickwick Papers in a way that is sure to stir the Christmas spirit in you. Gina has been a star of London’s West End for nearly two decades playing the leads in Matlida, The Phantom of the Opera, Wicked & Les Miserables. Right now she can be seen in the current season of The Crown on Netflix. Reading adapted f...
Dec 18, 2023•12 min
The award-winning actor and writer Patterson Joseph takes the listener on a fascinating journey into the captivating life of Charles Ignatius Sancho , an African man who found favour among the highest reaches of 18th-century British society, and who had a front-row seat to the infamous Gordon Riots of 1780 ... Sharing the inspiration behind his thrilling novel - The Secret Diaries of Charles Ignatius Sancho - Paterson shares his unique writing processes, heavily influenced by Dickens' immersive ...
Dec 15, 2023•50 min
Celeste Callen returns to share her insights on how Henri Bergson's theories of the 'superficial self' and the 'mechanical man' permeate through Dickens' novels such as The Signal-Man , Bleak House , Hard Times , The Chimes , and Master Humphrey's Clock Celeste Callen holds a BA (Hons) in English Language and Literature from King's College London and an MSc in Enlightenment, Romantic and Victorian Literature from the University of Edinburgh. She is a third year PhD candidate in English Literatur...
Dec 13, 2023•25 min
Dominic is joined by the inimitable James Swanton who is performing A Christmas Carol, The Chimes and Haunted Man in person this year at the Dickens Museum. And for those of you listening outside the UK you can watch a live stream of his Haunted Man - filmed inside number 48 Doughty Street - on the 11th December. James read English at Selwyn College Cambridge. Since graduating his acting credits include Sikes and Nancy at London’s Trafalgar Studios, Irving Undead and this years’ upcoming BBC Gho...
Dec 02, 2023•47 min
Dominic is joined by the award-winning author and food historian Pen Vogler who offers insightful reflections on how Charles Dickens used food as complex metaphors in his novels, that reflect the psychological and societal shifts during the Victorian era. The richly detailed food descriptions in works like A Christmas Carol and Little Dorrit reflect not just the era's celebrated dining etiquettes but sometimes Dickens' own discomfort in these settings. From Pen's new book Stuffed there's also a ...
Nov 27, 2023•31 min
Host Dominic Gerrard reads Dickens' account of The Gunpowder Plot from his 1851 A Child's History of England ... Dickens transports back us to 1605, the era of King James I, Guy Fawkes and a conspiracy that shook the nation. This compelling narrative is a tribute to November 5th, a date that continues to resonate through the annals of history. Support the show If you'd like to make a donation to support the costs of producing this series you can buy 'coffees' right here https://www.buymeacoffee....
Nov 05, 2023•20 min
