´óÏó´«Ã½

Arthur Clennam returns to England after 20 years in China. He brings with him a watch, with ‘Do Not Forget’ worked in beads on the casing.

Will his mother reveal the mystery behind the inscription? Does it relate to some wrong that has to be righted? And does the implacable Mrs Clennam know that the young seamstress who works for her is the daughter of William Dorrit, inmate of the Marshalsea debtors prison for over 20 years ?

Dickens’s 11th novel satirises the institutions of government and society, in particular the Circumlocution Office, a department run purely for the benefit of its incompetent officials, and the prisons where debtors were incarcerated, unable to work, until they had repaid their debts.

Dickens writes from personal experience as his father spent time in the Marshalsea.

Charles Dickens/ Rigaud ..… Jason Watkins
Arthur Clennam ..… Samuel Barnett
Amy Dorrit ..… Kitty Archer
William Dorrit ..… Paul Bradley
Frederick Dorrit ..... David Tarkenter
Mrs Clennam ..… Claire Price
Merdle ….. Joseph Millson
Mrs General ..… Nisha Nayar
Pancks ..… Carl Prekopp
Maggy ..… Lauren Cornelius
Jerry Flintwich / Dan Doyce …. Shaun Mason
Affery ..… Sarah Thom
Tite Barnacle Snr. .… Ewan Bailey
Tite Barnacle Jr ..… Tayla Kovacevic-Ebong

Adapted for radio by Mike Walker
Production Co-ordinator: Annie Keates-Thorpe
Sound Design: Alisdair McGregor, Markus Andreas
Director: Jeremy Mortimer
Executive Producer: Joby Waldman

A Reduced Listening production for ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio 4

Jason Watkins (The Lost Honour of Christopher Jefferies, Coma, W1A) is Dickens, who narrates the story, as well as the unscrupulous Rigaud. Samuel Barnett (Twenty Twelve, Penny Dreadful, Dirk Gently) is Arthur Clennam, and Claire Price (Rebus, Home Fires) plays Mrs Clennam. Paul Bradley (Eastenders, Holby City) is William Dorrit, and Kitty Archer (The Pursuit of Love, and recipient of the Ian Charleson Award for her role in Tartuffe at the National Theatre) is Amy Dorrit. Joseph Millson (Peak Practice, Holby City) is Merdle, Nisha Nayar (The Story of Tracy Beaker, Rosy Maloney) is Mrs General, Lauren Cornelius (That's What She Said, A Date with Shillelagh, Twin Leaps) is Maggy.

Mike Walker has written many original radio dramas and dramatisations. Little Dorrit is the eighth Dickens novel he has dramatised for ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio.