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‘What connexion can there be between the place in Lincolnshire, the house in town, the Mercury in powder, and the whereabouts of Jo the outlaw with the broom,’ asks Dickens’s narrator in Bleak House. As the novel develops, it offers various possible answers, including disease, family, money, and friendship.

The post Dickens, Dickens-Style: How the BBC are making use of the ‘streaky bacon’ effect appeared first on OUPblog.

As you know by now, I'm a huge fan of the Scottish actor, David Tennant, who currently inhabits the role of The Doctor in BBC's "Doctor Who". I have been doing my best to keep up with his film and TV output, and last Sunday night the BBC aired a 90 minute, one-off drama called Recovery from the pen of Tony Marchant. This was not an easy drama to watch. Alan (Tennant) and Tricia Hamilton (Sarah Parrish) are very happy. He's the head of a building firm and at the top of his game. She's a part-time beautician and mother to their two sons, teenager Dean and younger son, Joel. However, one night their perfect, if unremarkable, life is torn apart when a last-minute decision to pop out for a quick drink with a colleague sees Alan step out in front of a passing truck. The resulting accident leaves him in a deep coma but with remarkably few physical injuries. Tricia is desperately worried about him and absolutely delighted when he comes round, only to discover that the man she loved has disappeared. His behaviour has changed, he's lost all of his inhibitions, and he's veering between angry and frustrated at the one extreme, and vulnerable and child-like at the other. Simple tasks like taking a shower, getting dressed and making toast are beyond him initially. He can't go back to the job he loves. Alan's behaviour puts an intolerable strain on his relationship with Tricia and she is desperate to find the soulmate and husband whom she loves - but fears she may have lost him forever.

Sons Joel and Dean are alternately frightened and charmed by their father - one minute he's throwing games around when Joel tells Alan it's his turn to make a move, and the next he's playing hide and seek, crawling through the grass with Joel. Dean, meanwhile, is in the process of taking his A-levels (pre-University exams) and veering between utter embarrassment at his father's lack of inhibition, and angry that his mother is prepared to abandon his father.

This was an amazing drama. Very moving, sometimes gut-wrenchingly sad, and sometimes laugh out loud funny. David Tennant's performance confirmed him to me as an utterly awesome actor who instinctively knows how to play any given role, without ever going over the top. If you get the chance to see it, do so.