Dickens

In Part 2, host Peter Ackroyd follows Dickens as he writes many of his celebrated novels---from “Oliver Twist” to “David Copperfield”---and explores how his social conscience was influenced by his “secret past” as a poor youth in London. The books made him “the most famous novelist in the world,” Ackroyd says, but his marriage soured early, and while he would remain with his wife for 22 years, he felt “trapped” by her, and happiness eluded him. “There are some who were born for turbulence,” sighs Dickens (played by Anton Lesser). “I believe fate always drives me toward it.”