Summaries

Synopsis

David Copperfield (Dev Patel) is born to his mother Clara (Morfydd Clark), who was widowed before her son's birth. He has an idyllic life. David visits the family of his nanny Peggotty (Daisy May Cooper) in their boathouse in Yarmouth as a child (Ham and Emily are her adopted children. Ham likes David, and David spends a lot of time with Emily who is of his age. Ham & Emily get engaged).

When he returns, he finds out Clara has married the sinister and cruel Mr. Murdstone (Darren Boyd). David is then studying along with his new stepfather and step-aunt Jane (Gwendoline Christie) but is having trouble doing so. When Murdstone is harassing at Clara (he screams at Clara when David has trouble studying), David tries defending her but is then beat up by Murdstone. David is then sent to work in Murdstone's factory in London where he lodges with the Micawbers (Mr. (Peter Capaldi) & Mrs (Bronagh Gallagher)), who are pursued by their creditors. David starts sharing his money with Mr Micawber to help pay for food and other bills of the house.

A few years later, David is now a young man still working at Murdstone's factory. He has been jotting quotes by people important in his life down on pieces of paper. The Micawbers have been driven out of their house by creditors, who also snatch their possessions. A few days later, David is told of his mother's death and funeral, finding out that his aunt Betsey Trotwood (Tilda Swinton) is his only living relative now. David goes back to Dover and finds his wealthy aunt and her lodger, the eccentric Mr. Dick (Hugh Laurie).

David helps Mr. Dick clear his mind by flying a kite every day, which has David's writings on them (They both bond as they both write down things that they see or hear). David then also meets Mr. Wickfield (Benedict Wong), Betsey's accountant, and his daughter Agnes (Rosalind Eleazar) (whom David considers as his sister). To continue his studies, David is admitted to a school for boys, where he meets James Steerforth (Aneurin Barnard). Steerforth and David become friends, and David shares his stories with Steerforth, who encourages him to publish them.

David has a boxing match with street hooligans (who were making fun of David as Steerforth) & is knocked out in two punches, knowing nearly nothing about boxing. David's apprentice Uriah Heep (Ben Whishaw) (who is the son of the laundress of the school) invites him for tea at his house. Mr. Micawber then joins the school as a teacher, only for the purpose of meeting David, but is exposed by Steerforth (as recently released from debtor's prison and who has come to the school to continue his extortion of David) and is shown the door out. David goes to see of Micawbers and even then Mr Micawber scams David out of 5 pounds.

David goes to Uriah's house for tea, as he had promised a few days earlier. Uriah tries to blackmail him with the knowledge he gained of David's past (The David is not really a gentleman. He lodged with a beggar/debtor and worked in a factory like a common man). After a few days, there is a party at the boys' school, where David meets Steerforth's mother (Nikki Amuka-Bird) (who is a snob). He also meets a girl named Dora Spenlow, whom he falls in love with. David tells Agnes about Dora, and Agnes is jealous. She secretly loves David. David moves to London to work as an apprentice attorney (A Proctor) under Dora's father, Mr Spenlow (Matthew Cottle), who is a lawyer. David figures that Dora is a bit stupid.Eventually, David then finds out Uriah has been hired as an assistant to Mr. Wickfield at his firm and is in love with Agnes.

David goes back to his aunt Betsey, who has left her house with Mr. Dick as her wealth is now gone due to unknown reasons. David is troubled as he was living a lavish life in London based on Betsey's money. David asks Mr Whitfield for a loan, but Uriah refuses him, saying that now he is a partner of Whitfield. Uriah makes David and Betsey stay in a crumpled apartment in a sad part of London.

David then visits Pegotty's house with Steerforth, who later runs away with Pegotty's daughter Emily (Aimee Kelly), making her fiance Ham (Anthony Welsh) angry. Emily wanted to get rid of the small county life, but Ham was not ambitious enough. David returns to London and meets Dora again and tells her he is now poor. Instead, Dora takes this as a proposal and says yes.

Mr. Micawber is now living on the streets with his family and his concertina has been taken from him, which he asks Mr. Dick to buy back. However, when Mr. Dick is given a price of a pound for the concertina, he tricks the shopkeeper and steals it. The Micawbers are then given shelter (In the run-down apartment provided to them by Uriah) by Betsey and Mr. Dick.On Betsey's encouragement, David starts writing a book.

Agnes tells David, Micawber, Betsey and Mr. Dick that she wants a letter written by Mr. Wickfield as evidence against Uriah, who she knows is doing something corrupt. David, Agnes and others confront Uriah, who had been embezzling funds from the firm (as well as the source of Betsey's financial ruins) by forging Mr. Wickfield's signature on documents. Wickfield then dismisses Uriah from his firm.Dora calls off her engagement with David, asking him to write her out of his book. Emily, who had run away with James Steerforth, is seen by someone and is approached by David, others with him and Mrs. Steerforth. Emily says that James Steerforth abandoned her and went away to France but would return the following day to Yarmouth.

There is a storm at sea and knowing that Steerforth may not be able to reach Yarmouth, Ham comes to help. He swims to Steerforth's boat, but Steerforth is killed by an oncoming wave, which injures Ham. Emily and Mrs. Steerforth mourn James Steerforth's death and David and Agnes fall in love again. At this point, David has finished writing his book and publishes it; it is a success. Betsey and Mr. Dick get their money back and move back into their house, Mr. Micawber now works multiple paid jobs and does not live on the streets anymore and David and Agnes are married and have a daughter.