Charles Dickens was a 19th century British writer of significant public notability, who was known to have died in 1870. Even relatively uneducated servants like Gwyneth referred to him as a "the great man". In the last years of his life he entered a period of melancholy, seemingly brought on by emotional estrangement from his family, as well as probable writer's block.
When the Doctor and Rose Tyler met him on Christmas 1869 in Cardiff, he was on a grueling tour of public performances of A Christmas Carol, a work he had written many years earlier. During this period, he despaired of his life being merely a series of recitations of his past successes.
He initially mistook the Doctor as the person who had ruined his performance with an impromptu "lantern show" — something that was in fact the manifestation of a Gelth. He found it improbable that the Doctor was a Doctor because his clothing, according to Dickens, suggested the Doctor was a navvy. Meanwhile, the Doctor revealed himself as major fan of Dickens' work — although he had issues with "the American bit" in Martin Chuzzlewit. The Doctor also remarked that the death of Dickens' character, Little Nell, "cracked [him] up".
Dickens clashed with the Doctor, as he firmly believed in the rational world. Thus, Dickens was not prepared to entertain the more fantastical elements of life. The Doctor, however, saw that things humans considered "supernatural" were in fact just extra-terrestrial reality. Thus the Doctor was open to participating in a séance as a way of communicating with the Gelth, while Dickens viewed such things as the antithesis of his belief system. By the end of the ordeal, Dickens emerged with a belief that he had only just begun to learn about the universe. With his re-invigorated sense of wonder, he resolved to tell the tale of the Gelth affair in the form of a the ending to his novel The Mystery of Edwin Drood. The Doctor knew he would not live long enough to do so. When he did die, he did so a happier man. (DW: The Unquiet Dead)
Bibliography
Dickens was known to be the author of several works: "The Signal-Man", A Christmas Carol, Great Expectations, Oliver Twist, Martin Chuzzlewit, Bleak House, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, and a work containing the character, Little Nell.
