(Side note: when I first watched this series, I didn't think much of the music. But when I watched it again, I loved the music. Odd 🤷)
It's based on a Dickens novel, obviously. The main characters are Amy Dorrit and Arthur Clennam, and the plot revolves around a mystery involving both of them.
There's a long list of recognisable actors. These are just some of them:
Claire Foy (Queen Elizabeth II in The Crown) as Amy Dorrit
Matthew Macfadyen (Mr. Darcy in Pride and Prejudice 2005) as Arthur Clennam
Andy Serkis (Gollum in The Lord of the Rings) as Rigaud
Arthur Darvill (Rory in Doctor Who) as Tip Dorrit
Freema Agyeman (Martha in Doctor Who) as Tattycoram
Alun Armstrong (Dan Peggotty in David Copperfield 1999, and Inspector Bucket in Bleak House) as the Flintwinch twins
Bill Paterson (Dr. Gibson in Wives and Daughters) as Mr. Meagles
Pam Ferris (Mrs. Squeers in Nicholas Nickleby 2001, and Mrs. Boffin in Our Mutual Friend 1998) as Mrs. General
Annette Crosbie (The Fairy Godmother in The Slipper and the Rose) as Mr. F's Aunt
Harriet Walter (Fanny Dashwood in Sense and Sensibility 1995) as Mrs. Gowan
Eddie Marsan (Inspector Lestrade in Sherlock Holmes 2009) as Mr. Pancks
Sebastian Armesto (Mitaka in Star Wars: The Force Awakens) as Edmund Sparkler
And now, for a basic overview of the plot. Little Dorrit is a much longer, much more complicated series than Nicholas Nickleby, so there won't be quite as many spoilers. But still, SPOILER ALERT!
The story starts in 1805. William Dorrit and his family have been imprisoned in the Marshalsea for debt, and his youngest child Amy has just been born in the prison. Then we jump forward twenty-one years. Amy does sewing to support her family, and works for Mrs. Clennam -- a very cold woman, who with the help of her servant Flintwinch is hiding a terrible secret.
Mrs. Clennam
Amy
Mr. Flintwinch
Meanwhile, Mrs. Clennam's son Arthur is returning to England with news of his father's death. On the ship with him are the Meagles and their servant Tattycoram, who'll be important later, and the mysterious Miss Wade, who'll be even more important.
Arthur Clennam
The Meagles and Tattycoram, with Arthur (and the back of Daniel Doyce's head)
Miss Wade
Then we're introduced to the murderer Rigaud, in prison somewhere in France, and John Chivery, who works in the Marshalsea and is in love with Amy.
Rigaud. Ugh.
John and Amy. Ouch 😢
It wouldn't be a Dickens novel without enough characters to fill a small town, and all of them have some plot importance later, so now would probably be a good time to mention: Cavalletto, Rigaud's cellmate; Mr. Dorrit, Tip, and Fanny, Amy's selfish father and siblings; Affery, Flintwinch's abused wife; and Henry Gowan, a scoundrel (in Mr. Meagles's words) or a gentleman (in Mrs. Meagles's words) who marries the Meagles' daughter.
(That's not all the important characters. That's not even a quarter of them. It doesn't mention Daniel Doyce, or the Plornishes, or the Casbys and Mrs. F's Aunt, or the Merdles and Edmund Sparkler.)
Moving on...
(There are lots and lots of characters, and so lots and lots of plotlines. Unless you've seen the series, be prepared to be very confused.)
Arthur goes home, where he gives his mother his father's watch. Hidden inside the watch is a piece of paper saying "Do not forget". You can probably tell this will be important later. Arthur's father told him to "put it right" without explaining what "it" is, so Arthur thinks his parents must have wronged someone. When he sees Amy working at Mrs. Clennam's, he wonders if she may be the person they wronged. This leads to a confrontation with his mother, which ends with him leaving the family business.
Meanwhile, John Chivery proposes to Amy, and she turns him down. Ouch. It's obvious John and Amy aren't suited for each other, and she'd never be happy if she married him, but it's still a tragic scene 😢
At the same time Rigaud has found his way to London. Does anyone think this can possibly end well? He just happens to meet Flintwinch's twin, who just happens to have some papers Mrs. Clennam wants destroyed (Dickens loved unlikely coincidences!), so Rigaud murders this Flintwinch and steals the papers. This leads to a darkly comical scene later, when Rigaud encounters the other Flintwinch and gets a nasty shock.
Tattycoram runs away from the Meagles and goes to live with Miss Wade. Arthur falls in love with Pet Meagles and proposes to her, but she's already accepted Henry Gowan's proposal. The marriage goes ahead, despite misgivings on the part of Arthur and the Meagles, as well as Mr. Gowan's arrogant mother.
Arthur enlists the help of Mr. Pancks, who works for the father of the woman Arthur once loved, to help him find out if the Clennams did the Dorrits any wrong in the past. Instead Pancks discovers that Mr. Dorrit is heir to a large fortune: a fortune that will pay all his debts and set him and his family free.
My thoughts on the series so far: I'll be honest, at first I wasn't impressed by it at all. I kept comparing it unfavourably to Bleak House. But once I got over the fact that it isn't Bleak House but an entirely different story with entirely different characters, I began to really enjoy it. I shuddered every time Rigaud appeared (in the same way I shuddered every time the Squeerses appeared in Nicholas Nickleby). I felt so sorry for Amy stuck with her awful family, and for poor Arthur with his awful mother (though at least he can escape his mother). I cried for poor John Chivery (though not as much as I cried later ðŸ˜). And overall, I loved it.
Rating for this half: 8/10. There are some scenes I really wish weren't in it, almost all of them involving Rigaud, but thankfully you can skip them without missing anything important.
Review of episodes 8-14 here.
(That's not all the important characters. That's not even a quarter of them. It doesn't mention Daniel Doyce, or the Plornishes, or the Casbys and Mrs. F's Aunt, or the Merdles and Edmund Sparkler.)
Moving on...
(There are lots and lots of characters, and so lots and lots of plotlines. Unless you've seen the series, be prepared to be very confused.)
Arthur goes home, where he gives his mother his father's watch. Hidden inside the watch is a piece of paper saying "Do not forget". You can probably tell this will be important later. Arthur's father told him to "put it right" without explaining what "it" is, so Arthur thinks his parents must have wronged someone. When he sees Amy working at Mrs. Clennam's, he wonders if she may be the person they wronged. This leads to a confrontation with his mother, which ends with him leaving the family business.
Meanwhile, John Chivery proposes to Amy, and she turns him down. Ouch. It's obvious John and Amy aren't suited for each other, and she'd never be happy if she married him, but it's still a tragic scene 😢
At the same time Rigaud has found his way to London. Does anyone think this can possibly end well? He just happens to meet Flintwinch's twin, who just happens to have some papers Mrs. Clennam wants destroyed (Dickens loved unlikely coincidences!), so Rigaud murders this Flintwinch and steals the papers. This leads to a darkly comical scene later, when Rigaud encounters the other Flintwinch and gets a nasty shock.
"Wait, didn't I murder you?"
Tattycoram runs away from the Meagles and goes to live with Miss Wade. Arthur falls in love with Pet Meagles and proposes to her, but she's already accepted Henry Gowan's proposal. The marriage goes ahead, despite misgivings on the part of Arthur and the Meagles, as well as Mr. Gowan's arrogant mother.
Arthur enlists the help of Mr. Pancks, who works for the father of the woman Arthur once loved, to help him find out if the Clennams did the Dorrits any wrong in the past. Instead Pancks discovers that Mr. Dorrit is heir to a large fortune: a fortune that will pay all his debts and set him and his family free.
My thoughts on the series so far: I'll be honest, at first I wasn't impressed by it at all. I kept comparing it unfavourably to Bleak House. But once I got over the fact that it isn't Bleak House but an entirely different story with entirely different characters, I began to really enjoy it. I shuddered every time Rigaud appeared (in the same way I shuddered every time the Squeerses appeared in Nicholas Nickleby). I felt so sorry for Amy stuck with her awful family, and for poor Arthur with his awful mother (though at least he can escape his mother). I cried for poor John Chivery (though not as much as I cried later ðŸ˜). And overall, I loved it.
Rating for this half: 8/10. There are some scenes I really wish weren't in it, almost all of them involving Rigaud, but thankfully you can skip them without missing anything important.
Review of episodes 8-14 here.
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