The Olde Dickens Shoppe

Dickens, Literature, London, TV & Film, UK

This is going to be long — LOL. On the upside, there will be several miniseries and film recommendations, and lots of photos!

Being a bit layed-up recently, I’ve been watching some film & mini-series adaptations of the lesser known Dickens novels.

There are a few adaptations of the big titles that I can watch over and over again with absolutely no problem — seriously stunning, with incredible performances. If you’d like to get into some Dickens, check out one of these.

I highly recommend the brilliant 1999 David Copperfield with Maggie Smith and Daniel Radcliffe (and a boatload of British film faces). Also remarkable — the 2005 Bleak House with Gillian Anderson & Charles Dance (it’s my favorite). The third of my top three, (however by no means at the bottom), is the 2011 Gillian Anderson Great Expectations. All absolutely top-drawer. The Helena Bonham Carter/Ralph Finnes Great Expectations is quite well done too. I’ve seen all of these several times, and will see them again.

Gillian Anderson & Oscar Kennedy in *Great Expectations*

I didn’t care for the 2023 FX/Hulu version of GEx with Olivia Colman, much as I love her work. The 2012 The Mystery of Edwin Drood is at the bottom of my list. I don’t think I made it through one episode. (They made it very romance-y, dwelled on Rosa, and didn’t quite capture the atmosphere.

I binged a 1977 version of Hard Times over the last day, and quite liked it! Didn’t strike me as corny/silly and 70s at all. I also enjoyed — I don’t even know what to call it — The four-episode 2001 Dickens “spinoff,” Micawber. A rare Dickens comedy, not corny, and well done. The characters are intact, but the plot for each episode is original. There’s a 1995 Martin Chuzzlewit that I liked enough to finish, but wouldn’t watch it again. On the silly side of things, there’s a goofy comedy called The Bleak Old Shop of Stuff, a sort of Dickens-inspired sitcom mash-up. It’s okay, just not my thing.

Bill Sykes, Compeyson, Miss Havisham, Inspector Bucket, Fagin, The Artful Dodger, and Mr. Bumble in *Dickensian*

All in all, I liked the miniseries, Dickensian. It’s very clever, and it’s certainly beautiful. They’ve stuck a ton of Dickens characters into the same few blocks of London, woven their lives all together, and explored how they became who they are in the novels. Brilliantly written. Of course, once you’ve seen it, there’s no reason to watch it again.

The principal characters of the 1998 *Our Mutual Friend*

Today, I’m starting a 1998 BAFTA Award-winning version of Our Mutual Friend, with Timothy Spall (a favorite) in the cast. We’ll see how it goes.

Joel Grey & Patrick Stewart in *A Christmas Carol*

To answer the question which must be answered — my favorite version of A Christmas Carol is the 1999 version with Patrick Stewart as Ebenezer Scrooge. It keeps a lot of what most of the other versions toss out, the language is more poetic and true to the original, and their version of Scrooge’s London is stunning; in addition to the terrific performances.

Mischief Managed

London, New York, Travel

I can’t positively say whether I dislike all big city airports; but I can positively say that I absolutely loathe both JFK (New York City) and Heathrow (London).

We accrue a lot of JetBlue points, and that’s where they from and to, so it is what it is. As you’ve probably gathered, I’m planning my first post-recovery trip to London for January. I’ll still be recovering, but I’ll certainly be well enough to take a familiar trip — I know London backwards and forwards.

I signed-up for TSA PreCheck — No more absurd security lines. No more taking off your belt, shoes, and jacket. No more carry-on screening. Leave your iPad, laptop, and that quart-sized bag of liquids and gels in your tote. This solves a lot of my problems with JFK.

For Heathrow, I did my usual — adding a day at the end of the trip and checking into a hotel directly inside the airport the day before my flight home. No need to get up early, worry over time, stress, or get on a plane exhausted. Just walk out of the hotel door and I’m already there.

I’ll still have to get off the train from the airport at Liverpool Street Station, which is way down deep in the center of the earth near where the devil lives. 36 meters/120 feet, or about 12 stories underground. Platforms and hallways are incredibly long, and then you meet the most extreme escalator you’ve ever seen in your life.

*Yes, that’s really the actual escalator I’m talking about.*

I like to be in a neighborhood, so I’m staying at a hotel in a buzzy pedestrianized area with an incredible location — Bankside, right on the River Thames, leaning against an ancient pub, across-ish from Shakespeare’s Globe.

*The hotel entrance is at the end of the red-doors building, right across from Wagamama. On the left, that’s the terrace on the river.* *The Globe is right behind you.*

I’ll be doing my usual history thing. There are a few medieval churches on the list, the Docklands Museum, the effigies at Westminster Abbey, the renovation of the National Portrait Gallery, a few locations from Bleak House that I’d like to see in person.

I have a contact that could get me in to play a historic pipe organ, but I haven’t decided yet. I’ll likely play the little pipe organ in the train station for sure. The Globe is doing Cymbeline while I’m there. Sadly, not a play I really want to see. I might go see the revival of Oliver though.

Welp, I’ll finally be able to spend that £2 coin I brought back last year.

Well, My Friends, the Time has Come

Fiascos, Health, London, Personal, Travel

Let the music play on, play on, play on …

What is that? I think it’s a Lionel Richie song. Anyway —

They moved it up, and we have a surgery date. July 2! Truth is, I’m getting much worse, sick (to some degree) all day every day.

I am absolutely thrilled. This will end a year and a half of pain and nausea, and other things best not mentioned in mixed company. I haven’t eaten solid food in a year, or been to a movie, or gone anywhere much at all.

They’re re-routing my lower guts, and also taking out a small tumor. This stomach/GI syndrome forces you to live minute by minute. Yesterday, I felt kind of okay, and then threw up in a cup while driving on a winding mountain road. Thank God I had an empty cup in the car!

Although I have to say, the pre-surgery rigmarole, pre-visits, paperwork, phone calls, and prodding is unbelievable. If someone were elderly or just not-that-with-it, I don’t know how they would get it done.

I really am thinking positively though. I have already made a list of all my favorite restaurants and foods. You can’t imagine how happy it will make me when I can have a Pizza Hut pan pizza or Pad Thai!

I also just started the germination of a London trip. October is my usual month. It’ll be a good project for the next few months. I want to visit and photograph every ancient church within The City of London. (Not “Greater London.” That’s gigantic.) The actual City is very small, inside the ancient Roman & medieval city walls. I think there are about fifty churches.

In passing — you know how much of a Dickens fan I am. My addendum to that would be except Martin Chuzzlewit. Just started trying to get into it. Jeez. I really dislike it.

So, that’s what’s going on here. Hope you’re all well!

Oddities

London

Without much surprise, I was exhausted this morning and my stomach was bothering me.

Fate stepped in with a Pauline Collins movie, followed by an ensemble cast film with Helen Mirren and just about every British mom actor from Harry Potter to Call the Midwife to Downton Abbey.

I set aside £100 to buy myself something, so I thought I might shop a bit this afternoon if I felt a little better. I didn’t have a particular destination in mind, and I don’t particularly want anything. (I’m very hard to buy for, even if it’s me doing the buying.) I’m going to be near the Tower tomorrow, so maybe then.

I’m spending the day resting at the hotel — I want to make sure I feel really well for tomorrow. I thought I’d post a collection of photos from last few days that didn’t fit anywhere — creepy, random, and otherwise.