The Victorian-era settings, vivid characters, and socially conscious themes of   Charles Dickens' major novels are wonderfully communicated in this collection    of adaptations produced for British television. The Pickwick Papers        (Brian Lighthill, 1985, 360 mins.) is the comedic tale of Samuel Pickwick, the founder and chairman of an absurd club whose members embark on an interrelated series of adventures. Dombey and Son (Rodney Bennett, 1983, 300 mins.)   follows a wealthy and very proud London merchant who cruelly mistreats his       family in a misguided effort to help them. David Copperfield (Joan       Craft, 1974, 325 mins.) is a meticulously realized version of Dickens'         sprawling masterwork about a young man (David Yelland) who struggles to        fulfill his potential after a childhood of poverty, cruelty, and injustice.      Finally, The Old Curiosity Shop (Julian Amyes, 1979, 270 mins.) stars    Natalie Ogle as young Nell Trent, an impoverished girl who is unaware that her ailing grandfather (Sebastian Shaw) is squandering their money on his gambling Brian Lighthill/Rodney Bennett/Julian Amyes/Joan Craft---Great Britain---19  74-1985---1255 mins.