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The clandestine love affair between Charles Dickens and his young mistress is to be portrayed on screen.
By Anita Singh, Showbusiness Editor Cannes
The clandestine love affair between Charles Dickens and his young mistress is to be portrayed on screen.
By Anita Singh, Showbusiness Editor Cannes
Charles Dickens during a visit to America in 1867-1868. Photo: CORBIS A new film will tell the tragic story of the author’s love for Nelly Ternan, an actress with whom he conducted a secret relationship for nearly 15 years.
Dickens met Ternan when he was 45 and she was just 18. The BBC Films production will claim that the couple had a son who died in infancy, leaving Ternan broken-hearted.
The author’s wife, Catherine, discovered the affair when Dickens ordered a bracelet for his mistress and it was mistakenly delivered to his home address. They separated but Catherine remained loyal to him until his death.
The film, which goes into production later this year and has yet to be cast, is based on Claire Tomalin’s biography, An Invisible Woman. The script is by Abi Morgan, who wrote the screenplay for Brick Lane and the acclaimed television drama Sex Traffic.
Stewart Mackinnon, the producer, said: “The heart of Dickens’ novels were love for one’s family, but here was this man who had a wife and ten children and for 15 years he had an affair. His stories described the world as he saw it, and yet he was living a lie.
“The tragedy of the story is that both Nelly and Dickens realised they had to make a choice. Should he give away his position as a great writer for love? It is a terrible dilemma.
“The film really will make you read Dickens in a different way. It will show him as a human being in all his frailties.”
Dickens met Ternan when he was 45 and she was just 18. The BBC Films production will claim that the couple had a son who died in infancy, leaving Ternan broken-hearted.
The author’s wife, Catherine, discovered the affair when Dickens ordered a bracelet for his mistress and it was mistakenly delivered to his home address. They separated but Catherine remained loyal to him until his death.
The film, which goes into production later this year and has yet to be cast, is based on Claire Tomalin’s biography, An Invisible Woman. The script is by Abi Morgan, who wrote the screenplay for Brick Lane and the acclaimed television drama Sex Traffic.
Stewart Mackinnon, the producer, said: “The heart of Dickens’ novels were love for one’s family, but here was this man who had a wife and ten children and for 15 years he had an affair. His stories described the world as he saw it, and yet he was living a lie.
“The tragedy of the story is that both Nelly and Dickens realised they had to make a choice. Should he give away his position as a great writer for love? It is a terrible dilemma.
“The film really will make you read Dickens in a different way. It will show him as a human being in all his frailties.”
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