David Copperfield is the eighth novel by Charles Dickens. The novel's full title is The Personal History, Adventures, Experience, and Observation of David Copperfield the Younger of Blunderstone Rookery (Which He Never Meant to Publish on Any Account). It was first published as a serial in 1849–50, and as a book in 1850. The novel features the character David Copperfield and is written in the first person, as a description of his life until middle age, with his own adventures and the numerous friends and enemies he meets along his way. It is his journey from being an impoverished, neglected child to a successful author. In 2019 the novel was adapted into a comedy-drama film titled "The Personal History of David Copperfield" written and directed by Armando Iannucci starring Dev Patel as the title character, alongside Peter Capaldi, Morfydd Clark, Daisy May Cooper, Rosalind Eleazar, Hugh Laurie, Tilda Swinton, Ben Whishaw, and Paul Whitehouse. The film had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on 5 September 2019 and is scheduled to be theatrically released in the United Kingdom on 24 January 2020 by Lionsgate and in the United States on 8 May 2020, by Fox Searchlight Pictures. The novel's previous adaptations include: 1993 David Copperfield, animated TV film, shown on NBC, 1999 David Copperfield, a 2-part TV serial shown on BBC, and 2000 David Copperfield, a film directed by Peter Medak