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What the Dickens is PBS doing? Four adaptations

Charles Dickens fans won’t have to ask for more when PBS’ “Masterpiece Classic” serves up four of the English novelist’s works over the next three months.

“The Tales of Charles Dickens” opens with a three-hour “Oliver Twist” (Sunday and Feb. 22, 9 ET/PT, check local listings). Three other Dickens’ productions will follow: a two-part “David Copperfield” (March); a five-episode “Little Dorrit” (March 29 to April 26) and “The Old Curiosity Shop” (May 3). All but “Copperfield,” which features Daniel Radcliffe, Bob Hoskins, Maggie Smith and Ian McKellen, are new productions.

Although Dickens’ novels were written in the 19th century, they remain relevant, especially during today’s economic troubles, says Timothy Spall, who stars in “Twist” as Fagin, the leader of a band of young ragamuffin thieves, including the orphaned Oliver (William Miller). “His main themes are the unfettered power of money and how it affects the human being,” says Spall, who also has appeared in productions of “Our Mutual Friend” and “Nicholas Nickleby.”

“Little Dorrit,” a poignant mix of mystery and love story, has particular resonance today, says Claire Foy, who plays Amy “Little” Dorrit. In the book, Amy’s father is in debtors’ prison, as Dickens’ own father had been, and one of the characters has eerie similarities to alleged investment swindler Bernard Madoff. “It’s completely bonkers. The timing of it is quite scary,” Foy says.

Since Dickens’ works were distributed section by section in magazines, complete with cliffhangers, they work well as multiple episodes, Foy says. In England, she says, “Dorrit” was presented in 14 segments. “It lends itself to be done in serialized form.”

Dickens’ enduring popularity is helped by the ease with which his novels translate to stage and screen, “Masterpiece” executive producer Rebecca Eaton says. “His three strengths: One, of course, is the language, the voice of Dickens, which you can never replicate. The other two pieces you absolutely need to have are a plot that runs like a freight train and colorful, clearly drawn characters. And he’s all about characters.”

The screen adaptations, co-productions of Boston’s WGBH and British TV partners, allow writers such as Andrew Davies of “Dorrit” latitude in deciding which parts of the long books are to be excluded, Eaton says. However, they remain fully respectful of the novels. “We’re very mindful of the Dickens police,” she says, referring to devotees wary of straying productions.

The new “Twist” remains in the Victorian era but has unconventional elements that give it a more modern feel, from the music to the concentration on the triangle of Fagin, Bill Sikes (Tom Hardy) and Nancy (Sophie Okonedo). Nancy is played by a black woman in this production, and Spall says his “beggar king” Fagin is without the traditional beard.

“That mutual dependence is a very modern form there. It gives you the psychological and emotional bite that we’re used to seeing in dramas,” he says.

The visual nature of Dickens’ writing is vivid in any era, he says.

“He gives you such a strong sense of what it looks like that he’s almost giving you the shot.”