The BBC has launched a new series in the UK that seems eerily well timed considering the current financial situation. Little Dorrit, which premiered on Sunday October 26, is the story of a family that has fallen into debt and lost its house thanks to the overly aggressive lending policies of banks on the brink of world recession.
But far from being a contemporary story about the sub-prime induced credit crunch, Little Dorrit is an adaptation of Charles Dickens’ 1857 novel of the same name. While many people will justifiably claim that they have been the victim of others’ greed in the present crisis it may be of some comfort to know how worse things would have been were they there in the 19th century.
For the crime of not being able to pay their debts, as was the norm back then, the protagonist’s family in Little Dorrit have been locked up in debtors’ prison for over 20 years. Suddenly that supermarket downgrade doesn’t seem so unbearable after all.