Despite the condensing of Dicken's long and complicated original book into only 3 hours, the 2000 TV version of Nicholas Nickleby is very good. It brings out the main characterisations and story-lines in fair detail, and is even a little slow at times. Yet it also allows us the opportunity to learn that the good are not perfect(in fact often rather wet), and the bad are not completely black (well, not all of them anyway). It must be marvelous to act in something where you can really get your teeth into the roles, and all the characterisations are superb! Dickens certainly lends himself to caricature. It was not as entertaining as the superb stage show version performed in Australia in the 1980s, but it is an excellent TV adaptation.
The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby
(2001 TV Movie)
Good on you BBC, another true dramatisation of a complex novel.
25 October 2001