Our Mutual Friend

It's time for another under-educated Dickens ramble.

I wasn't really aware of Our Mutual Friend until I heard the fantastic 20 part Womans' Hour drama in 2009. I was a little confused at first but I think that's forgivable in any Dickens story where the main character goes by three different names, all of them beginning with J.

So when I saw that the current Dickens season included Our Mutual Friend, I assumed it was this version. I didn't even twig when I saw that it had 10 episodes rather than 20, I just thought they must have joined them together to make half hours. Then I noticed that each episode was an hour long and I made a definite note to listen.

Apparently the 10 hour version dates from 1984 and it feels old. Listening to two dramatisations of the same story made 25 years apart really underlines some of the things that I think we (over-critical, obsessive listeners) expect in our modern dramas.

The most interesting to me is that 1984 version is twice as long but contains about half as much atmosphere. Okay, so the 2009 version drops the sub-plots involving the Veneerings but this is supposed to be a radio drama and, whatever it is that's going on with the Lammels, you'd be hard pressed to call it drama.

I'm sure that the 1984 version remains more faithful to the content but, in doing so, the atmosphere and the very human stories of its characters are lost for large sections. I'm half way through listening at the moment and I honestly couldn't care less about John and Bella. Lizzie and Eugene are more interesting but then their story is much more interesting to start with.

The 2009 version is like a delicious sauce, reduced down from something that - though perfectly fine originally - has become tasty and strong and special through concentration. I felt drawn into the fantastic atmospheric world of the river, Abbey Potterson's inn, Veuns' shop and Harmony Hall. I could picture every scene as tendrils of mist crept eerily over everything and believe completely that John might fall for the sharp, fickle, mercenary Bella as she sparred with him.

But the difference that stands out most of all is the casting. Now I don't know the ages of the actors in either version but everyone in the 1984 version sounds around ten years older than the 2009 version. And considering half the cast is playing young lovers, or would-be-lovers, young is probably a good starting point. There's also very little variation in the 1984 voices. Compare that to Daisy Haggard's Bella and Lizzie Watts' Lizzie. It's a different world of distinctive and memorable individuals. Our Mutual Friend is next on my list of Dickens books to buy and, when I read it, Bella will sound exactly like Daisy Haggard and Lizze will sound exactly like Lizzie Watts.

I don't mean to suggest that I'm not enjoying listening to the 1984 version, because I am. But it's impossible not to be running a constant comparison between the two. I don't know if Mike Walker is intentionally working is way through dramatising all of Dickens but I say: crack on!

That brings me back to the subject of A Tale of Two Cities, which I wrote about before Christmas. Because the dramatisation was podcast, I held off listening to it. It's been sitting, unlistened to, on my ipod like the last chocolate that you've saved because you know it'll be the best of the whole tray. Last night I finally finished reading the book (no comment on whether I cried at the end) so it's time to listen. But I'm determined not to waste this on a week of 20 minute bus journeys, or to tune out in work while I'm doing something else. Like my last chocolate I want to savour enjoy it and I just happen to have a 3+ hour train journey to Warrington tomorrow.

I can't wait.