Charles Dickens: A Brain on Fire! 🔥
Guests include: Stephen Fry, Miriam Margolyes, Armando Iannucci, Alice Loxton, Robert Douglas-Fairhurst, Lucinda Hawksley, John Mullan, Pen Vogler, Andrew Davies, Rosie Holt, Bernard Cornwell .... and many more academics, writers, actors, directors and descendants of the great man himself!Â
Along side these interviews there are special Dickens readings from across his works ...
Thank you for listening 🔥Â
- Update frequency
- every 10 days
- Average duration
- 39 minutes
- Episodes
- 85
- Years Active
- 2021 - 2025
The War of the Worlds: with Jeff Wayne
Dominic now to Jeff Wayne about the creation of his masterpiece The Musical Version of The War of the Worlds ...
At time of recording this multiplatinum album has sold over 16 million copies worldwide…
Two Cities: with Jeff Wayne
Dominic speaks to the award-winning composer Jeff Wayne about Two Cities (his Musical adaptation of A Tale of Two Cities) that opened at the Palace Theatre, in London's West End, on 27th February 196…
PICTURES FROM ITALY 📚: with Pete Orford
In the July of 1844 Dickens, his wife Catherine, their five children, his sister-in-law Georgina - plus three servants and their dog Timber - left London for Italy. What followed was an extraordinary…
The Manuscript at Staplehurst: with Leon Litvack
Bonus Episode!
In which Dr. Leon Litvack recounts Dickens' dramatic retrieval of Part 16 of the Manuscript of Our Mutual Friend from the swaying carriage at Staplehurst; and reveals, here for the fir…
OUR MUTUAL FRIEND 📚: with Leon Litvack
Dominic is joined by Dr. Leon Litvack whose new edition of Our Mutual Friend for Oxford University Press will be published in November
Leon is a reader at Queen’s University Belfast, and is an expert …
Vincent Van Gogh: with Carol Jacobi
Vincent Van Gogh was an avid reader of Dickens. Throughout his life Dickens' works provided not only a mental 'scaffold' that helped him to believe in his own mission as an artist, but also pull hims…
The Verse of Charles Dickens: with Lydia Craig & Emily Middleton
Dickens' genius as a novelist is acknowledged the world over ... but what was he like as a poet?
Joining Dominic today to find out are the inimitable Dr. Lydia Craig & Dr. Emily Middleton who have jus…
(Encore!) BLEAK HOUSE 📚: with Stephen Fry
Ahead of a new series Dominic re-shares the most popular episode of this show so far! Bleak House with the inimitable Stephen Fry who takes the listener on an intricate journey through the fog and my…
GEORGE SILVERMAN'S EXPLANATION 📚: with Emily Middleton
Hot on the heels of Dominic's audiobook of George Silverman's Explanation comes the discussion with Dr. Emily Middleton (formerly Bell) … who we’ve met before in the episodes on Oliver Twist and The …
George Silverman's Explanation (Audiobook): Read by Dominic Gerrard
Dominic reads George Silverman's Explanation - one of Dickens' rarer short stories - ahead of an upcoming discussion with Dr. Emily Middleton ...
If you'd like to make a donation to s…
Pickwick's Legacy ...
Here are two fragments that didn't make the cut in the previous episode on THE PICKWICK PAPERS ...
Prof. Hugo Bowles talks about the afterlife of Pickwick & Gina Beck reads an extract where Pickwick i…
THE PICKWICK PAPERS 📚 : with Hugo Bowles
Dominic is joined by the inimitable Prof. Hugo Bowles who is currently working the OUP edition of The Pickwick Papers to guide us through this riot of a novel - if it is a novel?Â
Hugo is an alumnus …
A Tour of 48 Doughty Street: with Jordan Evans-Hill
Today’s episode is A Tale of Two Podcasts where Dominic teams up with Jordan Evans-Hill: creator and host of the Charles Dickens Museum’s Inimitable podcast.
Here Jordan takes the listener on a tour i…
A Jane Austen Year ...
Dominic has helped create a sister podcast to mark the 250th Anniversary of Jane Austen's birth!
A Jane Austen Year is told by the people that work at Jane Austen’s House - the idyllic Hampshire cotta…
A CHRISTMAS CAROL (Part Two) 📚 : with John Bowen
Welcome to Part Two of Dominic and John Bowen's journey through A Christmas Carol ...
With readings again from Hollie Hales and violin parts performed by Alexis Bennett.
HAPPY CHRISTMAS !!!
A CHRISTMAS CAROL (Part One) 📚 : with John Bowen
It’s Christmas Eve, and Dominic takes a deep dive with you all through A Christmas Carol. Returning to the series is the inimitable Prof. John Bowen (who recently worked on David Edgar’s Carol adapta…
'What Brutal Hand …?': with Lydia Craig
*This episode focuses on the theme of domestic violence*
Dominic shares a bonus fragment from his last interview with Dr. Lydia Craig on The Haunted Man and The Ghost's Bargain ...
It is a moment in t…
THE HAUNTED MAN AND THE GHOST'S BARGAIN 📚 : with Lydia Craig
Todays episode is on Dickens’ final Christmas Book The Haunted Man and the Ghost’s Bargain. A deeply powerful story, where the chemist, Stephen Redlaw is offered the chance to forget all his painful …
The Christmas Illustrations: with Lucinda Hawksley
This episode marks the 3rd birthday of Charles Dickens: A Brain on Fire! 🔥
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 In this first Christmas episode for 2024 Dominic is joined again by the critically acclaimed author, broadcaster, and art-h…
The Gordon Riots: with Ian Haywood
Dominic is joined today by the inimitable Professor Ian Haywood, of the Centre for Inclusive Humanities at the University of Roehampton.
Together they delve into the astonishing 'Riots of Eighty' tha…