The Stage

High-profile cast unveiled for Radio 4 Dickens adaptation

Published Thursday 6 October 2011 at 17:53

Robert Lindsay and Alison Steadman are to lead the cast of a five-part radio adaptation of Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities for the BBC.

The dramatisation of Dickens’ book will be broadcast in December over five consecutive days, with each episode airing in Radio 4’s Afternoon Play slot.

In the adaptation, Lindsay will play Dickens, in a role which sees him narrating some of the story, commenting on the action and conversing with other characters.

Steadman will play Miss Pross, while Jonathan Coy, whose credits include Rumpole of the Bailey and Hornblower, will feature as Jarvis Lorry.

Other performers in the cast include Andrew Scott, who played Paul McCartney in the BBC drama Lennon Naked and Moriarty in Sherlock, and Lydia Wilson, whose stage credits include The Heretic at the Royal Court and Blasted at the Lyric Hammersmith.

A Tale of Two Cities has been adapted by Mike Walker and is being directed by Jeremy Mortimer and Jessica Dromgoole.

Dromgoole said: “It’s a fantastic adaptation by Mike Walker, and, for the first time, Radio 4 has given us the opportunity to tell the whole story in five afternoon plays. We’re very proud to have attracted such a talented cast and put it down to the sheer brilliance of the script.”

The drama is being made by the BBC and is part of the Corporation’s Year of Books, which celebrates books with a range of programmes across all its channels and radio stations. The season also includes BBC1’s forthcoming adaptation of Dickens’ Great Expectations.

A Tale of Two Cities will be broadcast December 26-30.