Stephen Rea, Pauline Collins & Caroline Quentin set to star in BBC One Drama Dickensian

Stephen Rea, Pauline Collins and Caroline Quentin have been cast in the new BBC One Drama Dickensian.  Tuppence Middleton, Sophie Rundle, Omid Djalili, Anton Lesser, Ned Dennehy, Adrian Rawlins and Tom Weston-Jones will also star in the 20 part drama series being filmed for BBC One.

The series is set within the fictional realms of Charles Dickens’ acclaimed books and will feature some of literature’s most well known characters including Scrooge, Fagin and Miss Havisham, as their lives intertwine in 19th century London.  The Old Curiosity Shop is next door to The Three Cripples Pub, whilst Fagin’s Den is set down a murky alley off a busy Victorian street.

Stephen Rea who plays Inspector Bucket from Bleak House said, "Dickensian is the most beautiful re-working of the world of Dickens that you could ever imagine. The characters take on a fresh life, and any actor would be mad not to accept the challenge these great scripts offer."

Pauline Collins OBE, who plays Mrs Gamp from Martin Chuzzlewit added, “We are taking characters that everyone knows and loves, into a whole new world where anything is possible. You don’t need to know Dickens’ novels to fall in love with the stories we’re telling.  It’s going to be a real treat to watch.”

Caroline Quentin, who plays Oliver Twists’ Mrs Bumble said, “I’ve been a big fan of Tony’s work for some time and I fell in love with the idea of seeing all of these wonderful characters interact in a whole new Dickensian world.  My character Mrs Bumble is quite a grumpy, bossy woman and a lot of fun to play!”

Tony Jordan, award winning writer and executive producer of Dickensian said: “This is an ambitious and epic series for BBC One taking Charles Dickens’ characters and world into a whole new territory, in ways that I hope will delight and surprise viewers. We have an outstanding cast that will bring Dickens’ world to life in a way you have never seen before.”