Look Closer: with Robert Douglas-Fairhurst Artwork

Charles Dickens: A Brain on Fire! 🔥

Actor Dominic Gerrard hosts an exciting new series that explores the Life and Times of Charles Dickens: his extraordinary novels, who he was as a person, his career as a performer, and his activism.
Guests include: Stephen Fry, Miriam Margolyes, Armando Iannucci, Alice Loxton, Robert Douglas-Fairhurst, Lucinda Hawksley, John Mullan, Pen Vogler, Andrew Davies, Rosie Holt, Bernard Cornwell .... and many more academics, writers, actors, directors and descendants of the great man himself!
Along side these interviews there are special Dickens readings from across his works ...
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Charles Dickens: A Brain on Fire! 🔥

Look Closer: with Robert Douglas-Fairhurst

January 31, 2026 • Dominic Gerrard

0:00 | 43:28

Dominic welcomes back one of the most celebrated guests of this series Professor Robert Douglas-Fairhurst ...

Robert’s latest book Look Closer: How to get more out of reading (published by Penguin) is an invitation to all of us to go deeper into our reading, and find greater joy and meaning in the works of great writers from all ages and backgrounds. With examples from Dickens (of course!) but also George Eliot, Shakespeare, Margaret Attwood, Samuel Becket, Jane Austen and many more …

Since they last spoke Robert has also published Metamorphosis: A Life in Pieces : a deeply powerful biography of his life and career, set against the backdrop of shock diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis in 2017.

Here are links to purchase Robert's books:

Look Closer: How to get more out of reading

Metamorphosis: A Life in Pieces

The Turning Point: A Year That Changed Dickens and the World

A Christmas Carol & Other Christmas Books

Becoming Dickens: The Invention of a Novelist

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If you'd like to make a donation to support the costs of producing this series you can buy 'coffees' right here https://www.buymeacoffee.com/dominicgerrard

Thank you so much!

Host: Dominic Gerrard
Series Artwork: Léna Gibert
Original Music: Dominic Gerrard

Thank you for listening!