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David Copperfield (1966 TV serial)

David Copperfield
Radio Times cover with Christopher Guard
Genre	Period drama
Based on	David Copperfield 1850 novel byCharles Dickens
Screenplay by	Vincent Tilsley
Directed by	Joan Craft
Starring	Ian McKellen Tina Packer Flora Robson Gordon Gostelow Christopher Guard
Composer	John Hotchkis
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language	English
No. of episodes	13 (9 missing)
Production
Producer	Campbell Logan
Running time	25 minutes
Original release
Network	BBC 1
Release	16 January (1966-01-16) – 10 April 1966 (1966-04-10)

David Copperfield is a BBC television serial starring Ian McKellen in the title role of the adaptation of Charles Dickens's 1850 novel^[1] that began airing in January 1966.^[2] It also featured Tina PackerasDora^[3] Flora RobsonasBetsey Trotwood,^[4] Gordon Gostelow as Barkis,^[5] and Christopher Guard as young David.^[6] The screenplay adaptation was written by Vincent Tilsley, who had previously helmed the 1956 adaptation almost a decade prior.^[7]

It had a viewership of over 12 million for its initial airings.^[8] Only four of the serial's thirteen episodes (3, 8, 9 and 11) are known to exist.^[9] It is said to be remarkably similar to the 1956 adaptation that preceded it, although that version is now completely lost.

Plot[edit]

For a detailed plot, see David Copperfield (novel).

Cast[edit]

Archive status[edit]

After being rebroadcast in the late 1960s, the original master videotapes for all thirteen episodes were wiped by the BBC. The 16mm telerecordings made for preservation were junked sometime afterwards, most likely in the 1970s. Only four episodes (3 "A Long Journey", 8 "The Proposal", 9 "Domestic Tangles" and 11 "Umble Aspirations") are known to exist with the BFI, with episode 3 existing in the highest quality. Episodes 8, 9 and 11 suffer from notably lower sound and picture quality. Additionally, unedited studio footage of episode 3, featuring outtakes, mid-take conversations between actors and even director Joan Craft telling the crew to "shut up", is also held by the BFI and available for private viewing at their building on Stephen Street, London. All four episodes are available to view for free at their Southbank building via the Mediatheque service.

Critical reception[edit]

The BFI's Screenonline wrote "while this adaptation is occasionally light in the playing (comic music punctuates some of Micawber's gesticulations), it doesn't avoid the novel's tough incidents, and its length allows an unusual faithfulness to incident and character (finding room for Traddles and others omitted from shorter adaptations)."^[10] Sir Ian McKellen himself later said, "I was new to television and got absorbed in the technicalities of it all: characterization was forced, I expect, and I'm very glad the original videotape has been destroyed."^[11]

References[edit]

External links[edit]

• David Copperfield at the British Film Institute^{[better source needed]}
• David Copperfield at the BFI's Screenonline
• David Copperfield (1966)atIMDb

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