Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens (1864-65)

Produced by: BBC Radio Collection
ISBN: 0563557206
Date: March, 1998
Dramatised by: Betty Davis
Directed by: Jane Morgan
Pianist: Mary Nash
Running Time: 8 Hours 50 minutes, 6 cassettes

Cast:
Michael Kitchen ... John Rokesmith
Simon Cadell ... Narrator
Janet Maw ... Lizzie Hexam
Pippa Guard ... Bella
Michael Cochrane ... Eugene Wrayburn
Michael Graham Cox ... Mr Boffin
Megs Jenkins ... Mrs Boffin
Robert Lang ... Rogue Riderhood
Carole Boyd ... Pleasant Riderhood
Jon Strickland ... Venus
Timothy Bateson ... Mr Twemlow
Douglas Livingstone ... Silas Wegg
Angela Pleasance ... Miss Jenny Wren
Tom Wilkinson ... Bradley Headstone
Brett Usher ... Alfred Lammle
Maggie McCarthy ... Sophronia Lammle
Hugh Dickson ... R.W. Wilfer
Bill Nighy ... Mr Fledgeby
Cyril Shaps ... Mr Riah
Henry Stamper ... Gaffer Hexam
Narissa Knights ... Mrs Podsnap
Cecile Chevrau ... Georgiana Podsnap
Michael Jenner ... Charley Hexam
Geoffrey Collins ... Mr Veneering
Jane Wenham ... Mrs Veneering
Jack May ... Mr Podsnap
Steve Hodson ... Mortimer Lightwood
Stephen Thorne ... Mr Inspector
Avril Elgar ... Mrs Wilfer
Moir Leslie ... Lavinia Wilfer
Margot Boyd ... Miss Abbery Potterson
William Hope ... Rev. Frank Milvey
Penelope Freeman ... Mrs Milvey
Pauline Letts ... Betty Higden
Daniel Thomason ... Johnny Higden
Peter Acre ... Sloppy
Theresa Streatfield ... Miss Peecher
Helen Atkinson Wood ... Mary-Anne
Michael Lumsden ... George Radfoot
David Sinclair ... Mr Dolls
Mark Straker ... George Sampson
Colin Starkey ... Coachman

The Novel:
(From the cover notes, US version)

John Harmon, in exile for many years, discovers that by a curious quirk in his father's will, he must marry Bella Wilfer, a girl he has never met, in order to claim his inheritance.

Mistakenly though to have drowned on his return, Harmon gains employment with the kindly Mr Boffin under the assumed name of John Rokesmith. While there, he falls in love with the flighty and mercenary Bella, who in turn scornfully rejects him as a mere impoverished secretary. But Boffin and his wife contrive a plan to help Harmon and to show Bella the error of her ways.

The Production:
(From the cover notes, US Version)

With a cast of characters that covers the whole spectrum of London life, from the grotesque nouveax riches Veneerings to the poverty-stricken Betty Higden, Dickens weaves a tapestry of tales that are by turns funny, moving and tragic. It is both a powerful satire on the corrupting power of wealth and a richly comic vision of the great city of Dickens' time.

Originally produced for BBC broadcast by the world's most talented creators of radio entertainment, this audio presentation of Dicken's last completed novel is brought magically to life. With a full cast and stirring music, Our Mutual Friend is an extraordinary dramatisation listeners won't soon forget.