Plot summary

David Copperfield (Daniel Radcliffe) lives a nearly-idyllic existence with his beautiful mother Clara (Emilia Fox) and their housekeeper Peggotty (Pauline Quirke). His life changes forever when his mother re-marries. Mr. Murdstone (Trevor Eve) is a no-nonsense businessman and a strict disciplinarian who believes in corporal punishment. David is soon sent to a strict boarding school, but when his mother dies, his stepfather sends him to London to work in a foul-smelling factory. He forms a close friendship with Mr. Micawber (Bob Hoskins) and moves in with the man and his loving family, but as the Micawbers are forced by circumstance to relocate, he seeks out his aunt Betsey Trotwood (Dame Maggie Smith). She sends him to fine school and he lodges with Mr. Wickfield (Oliver Ford Davies) and his daughter Agnes (Antonia Corrigan). As he grows, older David (Ciarán McMenamin) is apprenticed to a law firm where he meets the senior partner's daughter Dora (Joanna Page). Life's challenges continue to confront him but with help from friends and family, he overcomes adversity including his wife's death and his aunt's loss of savings. Eventually he has the satisfaction of seeing the conniving Uriah Heep (Nicholas Lyndhurst) sent to a penal colony.—garykmcd