Hi, listeners. Today, we're bringing you a preview of a brand new series from the Noiser

podcast network. It's called Charles Dickens Ghost Stories. Join Sir David Suchet as he performs

seven of the great novelist's most spine-tingling tales. Stories of haunted houses, vengeful

spirits, and dark premonitions of disaster.

If you enjoy this taster episode, search for Charles Dickens' ghost stories on your podcast app, and hit follow for more episodes.

Or head to www.noiser.com. It's It's boxing day

1843

And at an elegant townhouse in London

A party is in full swing

Smartly dressed Victorian revellers nibble on minced pies.

That's pies containing genuine minced meat as well as candied orange peel and spices.

They chink glasses of hot negus and smoking bishop, elaborate mulled wine variants made from sweet, strong port.

At one end of the cosy, candle-lit living room, a group of children sit cross-legged on the floor, utterly entranced by what they're seeing.

A charismatic magician is working through a well-rehearsed routine,

pulling coins from behind their ears,

baking a plum pudding out of raw eggs and flour in his top hat,

even magicing a live guinea pig out of thin air

before letting it scurry across the floor.

This magician is the host of the party this evening.

And it's not the first time that he's transfixed an audience, though usually it's through another kind of magic entirely.

At 31 years old, he is, after all, the most successful writer of the era.

His name is Charles Dickens.

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