Television Reviews : ‘David Copperfield’ Five-Part Series to Start

“A man must take the fat with the lean,” says a character in “David Copperfield”--a reality known all too well to viewers of “Masterpiece Theatre” in recent years. However, with a new five-part BBC adaptation of Charles Dickens’ best-known and most autobiographical novel (debuting Sunday at 8 p.m. on Channels 50 and 24, and at 9 p.m. on Channels 28 and 15), the PBS staple is presenting not only an undeniable classic but also a first-class treatment.

Of course, one might prefer that the series cast light on some less-adapted classic; the list of “Copperfield” movie and TV versions is long. There was even a previous BBC series, a 1975 six-parter. However, it didn’t show up on “Masterpiece Theatre,” meaning the new version is the first most American viewers will see that isn’t limited to feature-film length.

However, this “Copperfield” isn’t special just because it uses the expanded time to provide all those quirky, lovely, funny details of character, dialogue and plot. It’s exquisitely produced and directed (by the team of Terrance Dicks and Barry Letts, who did the PBS/BBC “Brat Farrar”) and superbly cast, acted and photographed.

This TV “Copperfield,” in fact, is no less delightful than the 1935 MGM film version--but it is more faithful. While W.C. Fields might have been a delightful Micawber, for example, he wasn’t about to shave his head to match Dickens’ description, as actor Simon Callow did here. And Uriah Heep is portrayed, correctly, as much younger than Roland Young ( not Donald Meek, as PBS publicity material states) played him in the movie.

The five-parter is also noteworthy for being “filmed” completely with videotape, a growing trend in British TV drama. Previously, the usual English system was to videotape interior scenes but film exteriors; developments in more portable and otherwise improved video cameras make the new approach feasible.

Even though video still doesn’t quite have the smoothness and character of film--note the clumsy zoom on David’s stepfather in episode one--the British have mastered its use. “Copperfield” is just one example. (Another: last week’s debut of the newest “Rumpole” series.)

So, unless you’re fanatical about film’s merits over video, this is a “Copperfield” to cherish and--if you have a VCR--to keep, maybe alongside your copy of the great book itself.