Dickens’ "Nicholas Nickleby’ in six-part dramatisation

Press, 19 April 1980, Page 13

Dickens’ "Nicholas Nickleby’ in six-part dramatisation

The first in a six-part dramatisation of Charles ’ Dickens’s “Nicholas Nickleby” begins on TV2 tomorrow night. With its combination of comic exuberance and serious comment on the social ills of the day, this story merits the description “Dickensian” perhaps more than any of the author’s other stories. Nicholas Nickleby, a high-spirited, generous lad of 19, and his sister, Kate, are left penniless on the death of their father. With the help of their Uncle Ralph, a grasping money - lender, Nicholas obtains a teaching post at a boarding school for boys. Kate is apprenticed to a dressmaker by the name of Madame Mantalini. But it is soon realised by both that their uncle has planned their future purely for the satisfaction of his own devious desires. Nigel Havers, who plays Nicholas Nickleby, has made TV appearances which include “Upstairs, Downstairs,” “The Nearly

Man” and “The Victorians” in which he co-starred with Sir Ralph Richardson and Alan Howard. His most recent television Credits were for “The Glittering Prizes” and “Angels.” Derek Godfrey (Ralph Nickleby) trained at the Old Vic”theatre school and, under the direction of Glen Byam Shaw, gained his early experience with the Young Vic, the Royal Shakespeare Company at Stratford-upon Avon, and Salisbury and Nottingham Repertories. The most recent is in the leading role of Captain Holt in the series “Warship.” Kate . Nicholls ■ (Kate Nickleby) made her first professional appearance in the play "The Pumpkin Eater” at the age of five. She has worked in both the theatre and television; her most recent credits for the latter include “The Pallisers,” “Churchill’s People” and “Ten from the Twenties.”