Little Dorrit

This BBC Radio 4 dramatization starring Sir Ian McKellen recreates the author's mid-19th-Century London. Drawing upon his own father's imprisonment in Marshalsea Debtors' Prison, Dickens placed the institution firmly in the heart of the novel when telling the story of Amy Dorrit. The youngest child of debtor William Dorrit, Amy is born in the Marshalsea prison. She and her father are befriended by Arthur Clennam, whose mother employs "little Dorrit" as a seamstress. The fortunes of the Dorrits undergo an extreme change when Williams inherits a fortune, and the family move to Italy. Back in England, Arthur Clennam finds himself the victim of a massive fraud and ends up in Marshalsea. There he is found by Little Dorrit, whose fortune has had no effect on her generosity and humility. Arthur realizes that she loves him, but it is not until the Dorrit fortune is lost that the two of them can be united at last. Peopled with Dickens' usual host of memorable characters, this mix of satire and genuine sentiment has made this one of his best-loved works.