Charles Dickens: A Brain on Fire! 🔥 – Details, episodes & analysis

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Charles Dickens: A Brain on Fire! 🔥

Dominic Gerrard

Arts

Education

Fiction

Frequency: 1 episode/16d. Total Eps: 96

Actor Dominic Gerrard hosts an exciting new series that explores the Life and Times of Charles Dickens: his extraordinary novels, who he was as a person, his career as a performer, and his activism.
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!
Along side these interviews there are special Dickens readings from across his works ...
Thank you for listening 🔥

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What Matters in Jane Austen & Charles Dickens? : with John Mullan

Friday, November 21, 2025 • Duration 41:04

Dominic is joined by returning guest, the inimitable Professor John Mullan: author of What Matters in Jane Austen? (now released in a 250th Birthday Edition) and The Artful Dickens - both published by Bloomsbury Press

In a lively chat, John sheds light on the tricks, devices and styles of these two incredible writers: Jane Austen and Charles Dickens ...

And in case you haven’t heard John's previous conversation on Great Expectations we thoroughly recommend you scroll back to Episode 5 of this series also!

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If you'd like to make a donation to support the costs of producing this series you can buy 'coffees' right here https://www.buymeacoffee.com/dominicgerrard

Thank you so much!

Host: Dominic Gerrard
Series Artwork: Léna Gibert
Original Music: Dominic Gerrard

Thank you for listening!

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The Cock Lane Ghost: with Emma Clery

Monday, November 17, 2025 • Duration 47:04

Dominic is joined by the inimitable Prof. Emma Clery - author of The Rise of Supernatural Fiction 1762-1800 and Professor of English Literature at Uppsala University, Sweden. They continue this month’s theme of the supernatural, taking you on a journey into the heart of an event that caused a sensation in Georgian London, and would inspire Dickens decades later …

The real life story of The Cock Lane Ghost set the stage for an earnest debate between Anglicans and Methodists - the former skeptical the latter credulous towards a spirit realm - where the dead can seek out the living and communicate with them. The alleged haunting in Cock Lane quickly spiralled in the first months of 1762, with many great figures of the age Samuel Johnson, Horace Walpole and Prince Edward, Duke of York attending seances to cross examine the ghost. At the heart of the controversy lay the very serious charge of murder that the ghost - known as ‘Scratching Fanny’ - was trying to convince her hearers of, and the very real possibility of the man accused being sent to the gallows.

It will come as no surprise to you that Dickens loved this story! Mentioning it not only in articles but in three of his novels - through Mrs Nickleby’s flighty imagination, the disgruntled temper of Mrs Pipchin, and as Prologue to the madness and terror that engulfs A Tale of Two Cities …

Joining us to bring to life the real characters from this story - in the form of articles, letters and transcripts - are the fantastic actors Peter Bray and Rachel Winters.

Additional Sound Effects in this episode have been used under license from Epidemic Sounds

Support the show

If you'd like to make a donation to support the costs of producing this series you can buy 'coffees' right here https://www.buymeacoffee.com/dominicgerrard

Thank you so much!

Host: Dominic GerrardSeries Artwork: Original Music: Thank you for listening!

The Manuscript at Staplehurst: with Leon Litvack

Wednesday, August 13, 2025 • Duration 17:43

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 first time, a key discovery he has made; plus the cut sections he has restored in his new Oxford University Press Edition of the novel ...

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OUR MUTUAL FRIEND 📚: with Leon Litvack

Thursday, August 7, 2025 • Duration 44:05

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 analyst of Dickens’ letters, manuscripts & handwriting. As well as being the Principal Editor of the Dickens Letters Project and Joint General Editor of the Oxford Edition of Charles Dickens, he sits on the Advisory Council for the UK’s National Records and Archives…

And returning to the series to read excerpts from the novel is actress Carlyss Peer

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Vincent Van Gogh: with Carol Jacobi

Thursday, July 31, 2025 • Duration 40:33

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 himself out of deep depressions ...

Here to talk to Dominic today about the powerful connection between Dickens and Van Gogh is the inimitable Carol Jacobi, Curator of British Art (1850-1915) at Tate Britain where her many exhibitions included the celebrated Van Gogh in Britain …

Here are links to paintings discussed in the episode:

Miners in the Snow

The Potato Eaters

Boots

Vincent's Chair + Gaugin's Armchair

The Verse of Charles Dickens: with Lydia Craig & Emily Middleton

Friday, July 25, 2025 • Duration 38:54

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 just co-authored The Verse of Charles Dickens (Edinburgh University Press)

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(Encore!) BLEAK HOUSE 📚: with Stephen Fry

Tuesday, July 15, 2025 • Duration 49:07

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 mystery of Dickens' thrilling masterpiece.

And reading extracts from Esther's narrative is the brilliant Sally Scott

And here is a link to Miriam Margolyes' unabridged audiobook of Bleak House mentioned in the episode

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GEORGE SILVERMAN'S EXPLANATION 📚: with Emily Middleton

Friday, May 16, 2025 • Duration 42:57

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 Lazy Tour of Two Idle Apprentices …

Emily is working on George Silverman, and other rarer Dickens stories for Oxford University Press, and has just published The Verse of Charles of Dickens for Edinburgh University Press which she has co-authored with Dr Lydia Craig. ( There is a joint episode on this with Emily and Lydia already waiting in the wings)

George Silverman's Explanation is an indictment against poverty, as powerful as you will find in any of Dickens’ larger works. It is also a biting satire against the 'daring ignorance' and little 'meannesses' found in many non-conformist movements. Above all it is a deeply affecting examination of how far a childhood of of both want and punishing religious control can impact a man’s self-worth and future happiness.

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George Silverman's Explanation (Audiobook): Read by Dominic Gerrard

Monday, May 12, 2025 • Duration 01:16:51

Dominic reads George Silverman's Explanation - one of Dickens' rarer short stories - ahead of an upcoming discussion with Dr. Emily Middleton ...

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Pickwick's Legacy ...

Tuesday, April 22, 2025 • Duration 06:33

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 is observed from a window by a Scientific Gentleman!

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Charles Dickens: A Brain on Fire! 🔥 – Details, episodes & analysis

Podcast details

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Charles Dickens: A Brain on Fire! 🔥 – Details, episodes & analysis

Podcast details

Recent rankings

Apple Podcasts

Spotify

Shared links between episodes and podcasts

Other99+

Amazon18

RSS feed quality and score

Publication history

Latest published episodes

Similar podcasts and content

Related Shows Based on Content Similarities

Apple Podcasts

Spotify

Related Shows Based on Content Similarities

Other99+

Amazon18

Wikipedia14