The oldest surviving film featuring a Charles Dickens character – The Death Of Poor Joe - has been discovered by BFI curator Bryony Dixon.

In the year of the 200th anniversary of the author’s birth, the oldest film featuring a Dickens’ character has been discvered.

The discovery of the film, which dates back to 1901 and is one minute long, was made by BFI curator Bryony Dixon.

Dixon was researching early films of China when she spotted an entry in a catalogue referring to The Death of Poor Joe, which she realised could refer to a character in Dickens’ Bleak House.

Until now the earliest known Dickens film was Scrooge or Marley’s Ghost (1901), released later that year in November.

The Death Of Poor Joe will be screened as a special addition to the programme of Dickens: pre-1914 Short Films on March 9 and 23 at the BFI in London as part of its Dickens’ season.

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