Charles Dickens' Little Dorrit

Little Amy Dorrit

Sunday evening I just happened upon a Masterpiece Theater production of Charles Dickens’ Little Dorrit on a PBS channel. As it turned out, it was the LAST of FIVE episodes. The other four episodes had aired on previous Sundays. Because I had missed out on the first four episodes, this final chapter of the story left me with many questions. So, on Monday, I searched online for the text of Dickens’ story so that I might find the answers to my questions. The complete text IS available to read online. ALL 70 CHAPTERS! A quick scan of the final chapters did not satisfy my need for details, but only produced MORE questions. BUT—happy day! The entire BBC production was still available to watch online. So, I spent much of Monday and Tuesday watching the first four episodes and the end again.

Although watching the whole thing was nice, since the production was very nicely done, I still ended up not really understanding all the intrigues. So, even after watching it through, I had to go find a synopsis to explain the mystery. As it turns out, the BBC production took some liberties with Dickens’ story, and altered the end a bit. Nevertheless, if you get a chance to watch it, I think you would enjoy it. It will be available online to watch until next Sunday, I think.