The Mystery of Edwin Drood - Softcover

Charles Dickens died half way through writing The Mystery of Edwin Drood, and ever since speculation has been rife as to how the tale might have unfolded.

For this intriguing two-part adaptation for BBC2, for prime-time January 2012, acclaimed screenwriter Gwyneth Hughes (Five Days, Miss Austen Regrets) scoured the text for clues indicating how the great author might have finished this masterpiece, and has drawn from those leads a seamless, compelling and surprisingly modern story of obsessive love, betrayal and murder.

This tie-in edition of Dickens's unfinished text will also include an Afterword by Gwyneth Hughes, offering her own conclusion, and revealing how she knitted the strands from the original plot and her own work together to bring the book to a satisfying close.

Key cast list: Matthew Rhys (Brothers & Sisters) as John Jasper; Rory Kinnear (Hamlet, Women In Love, Lennon Naked) as Reverend Septimus Crisparkle; Freddie Fox (Worried About The Boy, The Shadow Line) as Edwin Drood; Tamzin Merchant (Jane Eyre, Miranda, The Tudors) plays Rosa Bud; Alun Armstrong (New Tricks, Garrow's Law) as Hiram Grewgious, Rosa's guardian; Julia McKenzie (Cranford, Miss Marple) plays the Reverend's mother, Mrs Crisparkle; David Dawson (Luther, The Road To Coronation Street) as Bazzard; Ron Cook (Little Dorrit) as Durdles; Sacha Dhawan (Five Days 2) as Neville Landless; Amber Rose Revah (House Of Saddam) plays Helena Landless, Neville's twin sister; Ian McNeice (Doctor Who) as Mayor Sapsea; Janet Dale (Holby; Casualty) as Miss Twinkleton; Ellie Haddington (Luther) as Princess Puffer; and young Alfie Davis plays Deputy.

Dickens's last, unfinished novel is a dark tale of obsession, jealousy and betrayal. At the heart of the story is the mysterious disappearance of a young orphan called Edwin Drood, and the evidence points to murder.

There are plenty of suspects: John Jasper is infatuated with his nephew's fiancee, Rosa Bud. Fuelled by an opium addiction, could Jasper have killed his nephew and love rival? The newly arrived Neville Landless also wastes no time in declaring his adoration of Rosa Bud. Could his jealousy have driven him to murder? And then there is a whole host of suspicious characters, who may know more than they should.

Screenwriter Gwyneth Hughes has studied Dickens's clues to solve the mystery of Edwin Drood for a major new BBC adaptation. Hughes has also written an Afterword to this edition, in which she reveals what led her to write her dramatic conclusion.
Cast on the front cover (left to
right): Matthew Rhys (Jasper);
Tamzin Merchant (Rosa Bud);
Freddie Fox (Drood) | Cast
on the back cover (left to right):
Sacha Dhawan (Landless); Rory
Kinnear (Crisparkle); Alun
Armstrong (Grewgious)
Adapted by: Gwyneth Hughes.
Produced by: Lisa Osborne.
Directed by: Diarmuid Lawrence.
Executive Producer for Masterpiece: Rebecca Eaton.
Executive Producer: Anne Pivcevic.