Charles Dickens said on its publication that A Tale of Two Cities was the best story he had written. Not everybody agreed. The novel has never been popular with critics. But it has always been hugely popular with the general reader, ever since its weekly serialisation throughout 1859.
In January 1860 the story was on the stage, adapted by Tom Taylor. Dickens, a keen amateur actor, acted as consultant. Dickens loved theatre and one of the reasons his novels have adapted so well to stage and screen was because they were so melodramatic: melodrama was the most popular form of entertainment in Victorian theatre.
