Frantically digging out my A level revision notes, I felt quite academic as I scurried along to the BFI’s press launch last week where their creative director and co-curators unveiled their part of the eagerly-awaited worldwide celebrations, Dickens 2012.

The BFI will be showcasing, what will be an unprecedented retrospective of film and TV adaptations entitled ‘Dickens on Screen’. From January for a three month period, the institute will be exploring how the work of Britain’s best loved storyteller has been adapted and interpreted for the big and small screens.

With the Bronte sisters and Jane Austin not far behind, Dickens is the most adapted novelist of all time.  From A Tale of Two Cities and The Life & Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby to A Christmas Carol and Oliver Twist, Dickens has entertained us for decades with wonderfully curious characters, dramatic cliff hangers and his fascinating portrayal of Victorian England.

Dickens died in 1870, only a few years before the advent of cinema. He was a natural showman who greatly enjoyed reading his works in public.  Audiences were enthralled by his innovative narrative and intense descriptions combined with his dramatic delivery.  It is of little surprise that every decade since the invention of cinema, a new generation of screenwriters have interpreted his work for the screen.

Less old-school academic and certainly more dashing was BFI’s trump card at the press launch.  The acclaimed screenwriter and novelist David Nicholls ( One Day ) enthused about his adaptation of Great Expectations which is currently being filmed in Kent and will be coming to the big screen next year.

‘Great Expectations was the first grown up book I ever read and it is still my favourite.  I can’t lie and say that it hasn’t been a challenge to try to distill some the lengthy scenes into a palatable screenplay but, of course, adapting Dickens’ work of art has been an absolute pleasure and honour’ he disclosed.

It is now more than 140 years since Dickens died.  His celebrated novels live on, not solely in the A level English class but on the page and on- screen for audiences young and old.  What remains strikingly clear is how timeless his work feels and how recognizable his characters are in our world today.

Don’t wait until January to begin your Dickens- fest; book a bracingly Christmassy walk around Victorian London with the Courvoisier Dickens Punch Tour, where you’ll take in the author’s favourite haunts and residences, November 23rd – 3rd December :  courvoisierdickenstour2011

Plan a trip to Rochester Dickens Christmas Market :  www.dickenschristmasmarket.com

Visit www.bfi.org.uk to find and book the  screenings and events taking place at BFI Southbank, London SE1 as part of Dickens 2012.

For details of the international Dickens schedule, check out: www.dickens2012.org

Image : Hard Times / Jacqueline Tong, © Granada
For more of Emma’s writing visit : lifeofyablon

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About the author

Emma Parlons
Emma is a freelance writer and enthusiastic networker. She founded Meeting of Minds, a networking group for female entrepreneurs in London in 2009. She joined www.evolvdigital.com as New Business Partner at the start of 2010 bringing her PR and online retail marketing experience to the team. Prior to joining Evolv, Emma was founder director of online beauty start-up, www.returntoglory.co.uk, and has also worked as a freelance PR consultant for a number of boutiques (on and offline), having had extensive business PR experience working as Head of Consumer Communication at AOL UK (1999 – 2007) and as Deputy Head of Corporate PR at Freud Communications (1997 – 1999).

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