David Copperfield

Like another person who posted here, I have a fond memory of this BBC miniseries presented here in the States on Masterpiece Theater on PBS. I have been hoping that it will pop up on home video at some point. I see IMDB doesn't have complete cast/crew details for this one and I'm hoping that someone will supply them eventually. It's great to see another person remembering and requesting this fine adaptation, which as I recall appeared on PBS just after another treat, the "Fortunes of War" miniseries that brought Kenneth Branagh and Emma Thompson together for the first time.

I remember watching this adaptation of Dickens'masterpiece "David Copperfield" on BBC back in 1986, and I had fond memories of it. Therefore I was exited when I found the DVD of this series in a shop this December. Now watching the whole series again after so many years, I'm still pleased to see how 'complete'the story is. Many adaptations of DC leave out some characters from the original novel or skip some episodes. The classic adaptation with W.C. Fields leaves out the whole Salem House school episode, thus robbing the viewer of one of the more memorable character Mr. Creackle; and I still don't see why they decided to do it that way for it forced the scriptwriter to find a new way to introduce Steerforth into the story. And poor Tommy Traddles! Always a sort of underdog in the novel and obviously regarded as an insignificant figure by many who adapted DC for the screen, as his character is mostly dropped. it's so good that this series does not follow that trend and show Traddles 'in his full glory'. Overall the acting is excellent;it's also good that the grown David looks convincingly like David as child. Heartily recommended!

I enjoyed this production so much I am still seeking a copy of it 20 years later. Simon Callow's portrayal was the best Wilkins Micawber ever! What a thrill to hear him shout,"You,you, Heep of infamy!" I have yet to find another production of David Copperfield that I like as much as this one from 1986. The musical score was so appealing. The entire cast was exceptional. I just finished watching the 1999 ExxonMobil Masterpiece Theater production with a very young Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter)and it was also very excellent. This version includes a masterful performance by Maggie Smith as Aunt Betsey Trotwood. However, I still find myself longing to watch this 1986 version again. Colin Hurley will always be my favored vision of Mas'r Davy. Thorley Walters will always be my Mr. Dick. I do hope the BBC will release this on DVD. I would buy it in a heartbeat!

It's about as thorough an adaptation of a Dickens novel that one could hope for, but unfortunately I just couldn't get myself immersed in it due to the community-theater-quality acting. Lady Trotwood was the only believable character in the first episode. The others... well, it wouldn't be fair to call them "bad" exactly. If this were a high-school one-act play, you'd pat them on the back and tell them "well done". But for a BBC production of one of history's all-time great novels? Not for a moment did I forget that I was watching actors. It's a shame, because again, it's quite thorough -- superior in that regard to several other adaptations.

In short, skip this version as it offers nothing that the 1974 version only 12 years prior does much better. The casting is terrible, so much so that a day after having seen it I can scarcely remember the faces of the actors. The production is low budget and clunky, worse than the 1974 earlier version. It is however a thorough adaptation and was a little clearer on some details over the 1974 version in regards to locations and how the many characters timelines interweave in the middle 3rd of the novel. But ultimately it's not worth buying the dvd (it's not available online legal or otherwise as of 2021) to invest the time in this one when if you are looking for a thorough adaptation the 1974 version is superior in every sense. And The 1999 version is much more watchable if you don't mind some things being abridged for the sake of brevity.