Charles Dickens: A Brain on Fire! 🔥

Dominic is joined by Dr Emily Middleton who returns to guide us through Dickens' final Christmas Number ... No Thoroughfare. Written in collobration with Wilkie Collins in the December of 1867 the story is preoccupied with pathways in life that are seemingly blocked or torn away from you: whether it’s a mother searching for her lost child; a young man desirous to marry but prevented by an ove...

Dominic is joined by the inimitable Dr. Joanna Hofer-Robinson and Dr. Pete Orford , for a lively discussion on their new publication The Plays of Charles Dickens . This is the first ever critical edition of Dickens’ plays which include the early farces of The Strange Gentleman, The Village Coquettes, Is She His Wife, Or Something Singular, The Lamplighter … and his later collaborations of Mr Night...

Dominic is joined by the inimitable Dr. Céline Prest who guides today's discussion on A Tale of Two Cities  - one of the most gripping, exciting and heart-rending stories that Dickens ever wrote.  Céline completed her Phd at the Sorbonne University in 2016. Her doctoral research was awarded the André Topia Prize by the Chancellerie des Universitiés de Paris, and the Robert B. Partlow Jr prize...

Ahead of a new series this month Dominic re-shares his popular interview with the inimitable Armando Iannucci ! Armando is one of the leading comedy writers and political satirists of our time - where we delve into his literary passions and influences. This lively conversation peels back the layers of Armando's lifelong love of Charles Dickens - Martin Chuzzlewit in particular -and his intere...

Charles Dickens: A Brain on Fire! will return in the summer ... In the meantime there are nearly 100 Episodes to enjoy with guests such as: Stephen Fry, Miriam Margolyes, Armando Iannucci, Andrew Davies, Alice Loxton, Robert Douglas-Fairhurst, Lucinda Hawksley, John Bowen, John Mullan, Rosie Holt,  Steven Knight …. And many more! And if you’d like to make a small donation to cover the costs of res...

Dominic welcomes back one of the most celebrated guests of this series Professor Robert Douglas-Fairhurst ...  Robert’s latest book Look Closer: How to get more out of reading (published by Penguin) is an invitation to all of us to go deeper into our reading, and find greater joy and meaning in the works of great writers from all ages and backgrounds. With examples from Dickens (of course!) but al...

This Christmas Eve ... Dominic is joined by the inimitable Meredith Braun , who played Scrooge's love interest Belle - opposite Michael Caine (and Fozziwig!) - in Brian Henson's The Muppet Christmas Carol ... Meredith shares her memories of filming the role, whilst simultaneously playing Eponine in the iconic West End production of Les Miserables ... A special thank you to Tim Hutton at...

Dominic is joined again by the inimitable Dr. Lydia Craig where they dive into Dickens' third Christmas Book, with readings from the award-winning actress Penelope Rawlins The Cricket On The Hearth - published 180 years ago this year - explodes into life from the very start and hardly pauses for breath until the very end. Its unrelenting pace sweeps its characters along whether they be human,...

Dominic is joined by the inimitable Dr. Philip Palmer : Robert H. Taylor Curator & Department Head of Literary and Historical Manuscripts at the Morgan Library & Museum and custodian of Charles Dickens' one and only handwritten manuscript of A Christmas Carol   ... Here Philip shares many of the secrets of the manuscript, such as the ideas and phrases that Dickens struck from his stor...

Dominic reads a quietly enchanting festive episode from “Master Humphrey’s Clock” by Charles Dickens.  Master Humphrey is wandering the snowy streets, one 25th December, and casually walks into a tavern. A decision that will change his life forever ... A MERRY CHRISTMAS to all you listeners, wherever in the world you are! Support the show If you'd like to make a donation to support the costs...

Dominic is joined by returning guest, the inimitable Professor John Mullan : author of What Matters in Jane Austen? (now released in a 250th Birthday Edition) and The Artful Dickens - both published by Bloomsbury Press In a lively chat, John sheds light on the tricks, devices and styles of these two incredible writers: Jane Austen and Charles Dickens ... And in case you haven’t heard John's p...

Dominic is joined by the inimitable Prof. Emma Clery - author of The Rise of Supernatural Fiction 1762-1800 and Professor of English Literature at Uppsala University , Sweden. They continue this month’s theme of the supernatural, taking you on a journey into the heart of an event that caused a sensation in Georgian London, and would inspire Dickens decades later … The real life story of The Cock L...

The ghostly episodes continue as Dominic welcomes back the inimitable Dr.   Emily Middleton who helps piece together the scattered psychological fragments that create Dickens' To Be Read at Dusk ...   Five couriers sit high up watching the sun set over snowy peaks of the St Bernard's Pass, their minds flitting from one strange unsettling anecdote to another. Ideas of premonition, mesmeri...

Dominic is joined by the inimitable Dr. Kirstin Mills Senior Lecturer and Director of the Master of Research & Graduate Diploma of Research in the Faculty of Arts, at Macquarie University . Kirstin's recent articles include the chapter "Morphean Space and the Metaphysics of Nightmare ..."  published in Gothic Dreams and Nightmares for Manchester University Press. Their conversat...

This Halloween ... actor Jonathan Broadbent   reads one of the interpolated ghost stories, from  The Pickwick Papers  In The Lawyer and The Ghost a somewhat disreputable young Lawyer has retired to his meagre lodgings one night and is forced to debate with something not of this world ... Support the show If you'd like to make a donation to support the costs of producing this series you can bu...

This Halloween Dominic is joined by the inimitable Prof. Andrew Smith who guides us through Dickens' The Black Veil and his latest book Dickens and the Gothic  (for Cambridge University Press) Perhaps calling to mind Susan Hill’s The Woman In Black …  The Black Veil  begins with a young man sitting by the fire one winter’s night, with cosy thoughts of Christmas. Out of the corner of his eye t...

Dominic announces a new series of Charles Dickens: A Brain on Fire! 🔥 and share some personal stories of haunting ...  Support the show If you'd like to make a donation to support the costs of producing this series you can buy 'coffees' right here  https://www.buymeacoffee.com/dominicgerrard Thank you so much! Host: Dominic Gerrard Series Artwork: Léna Gibert Original Music: Domini...

Dominic now to Jeff Wayne about the creation of his masterpiece The Musical Version of The War of the Worlds ... At time of recording this multiplatinum album has sold over 16 million copies worldwide and is currently running as an Immersive Experience in London. It features searing performances from Thin Lizzy’s Phil Lynott as the crazed Parson Nathaniel, and David Essex’s swaggering and delusion...

Dominic speaks to the award-winning composer Jeff Wayne about Two Cities (his Musical adaptation of A Tale of Two Cities ) that opened at the Palace Theatre, in London's West End, on 27th February 1969 Despite a run of just 44 performances, Two Cities was Nominated for Best Musical at the Evening Standard Awards - with its star Edward Woodward also winning the Best Male Performance for a Musi...

In the July of 1844 Dickens, his wife Catherine, their five children, his sister-in-law Georgina - plus three servants and their dog Timber - left London for Italy. What followed was an extraordinary adventure for them all. Returning to the series to talk to Dominic about his new Oxford University Press edition of Pictures From Italy is the inimitable Dr. Pete Orford also returning to read excerpt...

Bonus Episode! In which Dr. Leon Litvack recounts Dickens' dramatic retrieval of Part 16 of  the Manuscript of Our Mutual Friend from the swaying carriage at Staplehurst; and reveals, here for the first time, a key discovery he has made; plus the cut sections he has restored in his new Oxford University Press Edition of the novel ... Support the show If you'd like to make a donation to s...

Dominic is joined by Dr. Leon Litvack whose new edition of Our Mutual Friend for Oxford University Press will be published in November Leon is a reader at Queen’s University Belfast , and is an expert analyst of Dickens’ letters, manuscripts & handwriting. As well as being the Principal Editor of the Dickens Letters Project and Joint General Editor of the Oxford Edition of Charles Dickens , he...

Vincent Van Gogh was an avid reader of Dickens. Throughout his life Dickens' works provided not only a mental 'scaffold' that helped him to believe in his own mission as an artist, but also pull himself out of deep depressions ... Here to talk to Dominic today about the powerful connection between Dickens and Van Gogh is the inimitable Carol Jacobi , Curator of British Art (1850-191...

Dickens' genius as a novelist is acknowledged the world over ... but what was he like as a poet? Joining Dominic today to find out are the inimitable Dr. Lydia Craig & Dr. Emily Middleton who have just co-authored The Verse of Charles Dickens (Edinburgh University Press) Support the show If you'd like to make a donation to support the costs of producing this series you can buy '...

Ahead of a new series Dominic re-shares the most popular episode of this show so far! Bleak House with the inimitable Stephen Fry who takes the listener on an intricate journey through the fog and mystery of Dickens' thrilling masterpiece. And reading extracts from Esther's narrative is the brilliant Sally Scott And here is a link to Miriam Margolyes' unabridged audiobook of Bleak H...