HE is the great great grandson of one of the greatest writers of our time.

Gerald Dickens will be bringing a tale of unrequited love, intrigue and good and bad fortune to Weymouth Pavilion on Sunday.

The actor will be performing a one man stage show of one of his ancestor’s greatest works – Great Expectations.

Oxfordshire-based Gerald said it wasn’t until he was in his 30s until he was fully able to embrace his literary ancestry.

He said: “I never wanted to do Dickens stuff before.

“When I was at school everyone would make fun of me for being related to him when we were studying him.

“My background was theatre but there was no connection to the Dickens stuff with all the stuff I was doing.

“It was in 1993 when somebody approached me with the idea of staging a dramatic reading of A Christmas Carol to raise money for charity.

“As soon as I started doing it I thought ‘this is fantastic, the characters are so strong’.

“I completely came round to Dickens after I saw a performance of Nicholas Nickleby.”

Gerald considers Great Expectations, the story of orphan Pip becoming a gentleman through an anonymous benefactor, one of his favourite Dickens’ works.

He said: “The nice thing about Great Expectations is that the story is told in the first person.

“Pip is talking as the narrator and it’s told as it’s written. “It’s a very theatrical show.”

Gerald is in much demand around the world and regularly travels to give talks at the request of the Dickens Fellowship and other fans of the literary luminary.

“All around the world people still seem to worship Dickens despite it being more than 200 years after his birth.

“Every year I do a long tour to America and this year I will be going back to America with a new show. The new show is based on a story that Dickens wrote for his children on the life of Jesus.”

Last year’s film on Dickens’ life The Invisible Woman starring Ralph Fiennes was ‘very good’, he thought.

“I think it’s great that people are making films about his life rather than just his novels.

“He was a very complex character and a lot of the problems he had and things he went through are still relatable today.”

And if the author of David Copperfield himself knew that his legacy was being carried on by his great great grandson, what would he say, I ask?

“He would probably elbow me off the stage!

“At heart he was a theatre man and he loved to perform. I think that’s why his novels translate so well to the screen and stage.”

  • Great Expectations is at Weymouth Pavilion on Sunday from 7.30pm. Contact the Pavilion for tickets.