Arguably the greatest of English novelists, Charles Dickens was also one of the outstanding personalities of his age—and preeminent Dickens biographer Peter Ackroyd is just the person to capture his essence. This program merges interview, dramatization, and reenactment to explore the author’s life story, spotlighting the recurrent influence of Dickens’ childhood on his obsessive vision of darkness and light. The mercurial actor John Sessions plays Dickens in a bravura performance, while extracts from A Christmas Carol, Oliver Twist, The Pickwick Papers, and other stories, plus passages from the writer’s correspondence and memoranda, complete the process of bringing the writer to life. (66 minutes)