Martin Chuzzlewit

Dickens is said to have proclaimed Martin Chuzzlewit his best work. When early public sales of its first monthly instalments proved disappointing, Dickens changed the plot to send Martin to America, drawing on his visit there in 1842. Given its rich array of typically 'Dickensian' characters, it is surprising that it took British TV until 1994 to turn to this tale. Wilkinson is magnificent as the self-aggrandising villain Pecksniff, and there is the opportunity to see the incomparable Scofield in a rare TV role.