"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times".

This novel by Charles Dickens, tells the story of the redemptive powers of love in the face of cruelty, violence and neglect.

Written and published in weekly instalments in 1859, it's set in London and Paris before and during the violence of the French Revolution.

The story follows several characters through these events, notably Charles Darnay, a French former aristocrat who falls victim to the indiscriminate wrath of the revolution, and Sydney Carton, a dissipated English barrister who tries to redeem his ill-spent life out of love for Darnay's wife, Lucie Manette.

Although the events in the novel span eight years, the plot develops and builds powerfully from the moment the story opens, with the coded rumours of Dr Manette being 'restored to life' and Dickens orchestrates the wider political picture behind the story of Lucie, Darnay and Carton, with his customary brilliance.

Starring Robert Lindsay, Jonathan Coy and Alison Steadman.

Dramatised in five parts by Mike Walker

Charles Dickens ...... Robert Lindsay
Jarvis Lorry ...... Jonathan Coy
Miss Pross ...... Alison Steadman
Lucie Manette ...... Lydia Wilson
Dr Alexandre Manette ...... Karl Johnson
Charles Darnay ...... Andrew Scott
Ernest Defarge ...... James Lailey
Therese Defarge ...... Tracy Wiles
Gaspard ...... Simon Bubb
Jerry Cruncher ...... Carl Prekopp
Joe ...... Rikki Lawton

With:

Adam Billington
Christopher Webster

Music by Lennert Busch.

Directors: Jessica Dromgoole & Jeremy Mortimer

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in December 2011. Show less