A new star-studded adaptation of Charles Dickens' classic Little Dorrit for BBC1 starts this November.

The 15-part serial was adapted by highly acclaimed writer Andrew Davies, also responsible for the very successful Bleak House (2005) and Sense and Sensibility (2008).

This is the official TV tie-in edition to the serial, including an exclusive introduction by Andrew Davies about his experience of adapting Little Dorrit for TV. William Dorrit is a long-term inmate in the debtors' prison, Marshalsea.

He must stay there until his fortune improves and his debt is paid.

For her entire life so far, his daughter Amy has faithfully nursed him in jail.

Trying to keep herself out of debt she works as a seamstress for the stern Mrs Clennam.

When Mrs Clennam's son, Arthur, returns home from years abroad working for the family business, Amy's life begins to change.

As some shocking truths emerge, and as the fortunes of the Dorrits and the Clennams rise and fall by equally dramatic means, it is clear that no one is safe from Marshalsea.