Little Dorrit

The new adapation of Masterpiece Classic's "Little Dorrit" got off to a rousing start last night and quickly proved to be the best -- thus far -- of the the series latest crop of Dickens-inspired teledramas. It's not that I didn't care for the recent "Oliver Twist" ('tho I wasn't too wild about Timothy Spall's take on Fagin--and I usually love everything he does), but maybe I've just seen too many other adaptations. And the rebroadcast of the '99 "David Copperfield" seemed nothing more than a time filler (altho Maggie Smith's Aunt Betsy is a delight).

But this new "Dorrit" grabbed me right away. It's big and expansive and complete with Alun Armstrong on hand as the best possible Dickensian villain. OK, the streets of London are a bit too clean, the costumes perhaps a bit too lovely, and the dreaded debtors' prison not that particularly dreadful. But Andrew Davies' script is up to his brilliant "Bleak House" from a few years ago and the casting is top notch. Any opportunity to see Tom Courtenay, Judy Parfitt, Eddie Marsan and especially Matthew Macfadyen is reason enough for me to stick this one thru til the end.