AMERICAN actress Gillian Anderson was spotted visiting the Charles Dickens Birthplace Museum in Portsmouth.
The actress was spotted in on Tuesday afternoon recording a BBC programme, having recently been made patron of the Dickens Fellowship.
Anderson, who is best known for her role as agent Dana Scully, played Miss Havisham in the BBC’s adaptation of Great Expectations and Lady Dedlock in Bleak House.
Yesterday saw Gillian film outside and inside the famous house during the afternoon.
Asked why she was so keen to get involved with the fellowship, Anderson told the BBC: ‘I was surprised that there was not a Dickens statute anywhere in Great Britain. He was born in Portsmouth and there is a Charles Dickens ward here in which there are known literacy and numeracy issues.
‘The idea that a potential statue here would draw attention to that, start discussions about it, and be a focal point for advocacy for the area and certainly to expand people’s knowledge of and interest in Dickens and his writing. Also a separation of the classes was a big issue for him.
‘The idea that a statue would bring attention to where that is still an issue today and start conversations about it.’
Twitter user @marleysky said: ‘#GillianAnderson of #TheXFiles is in my town! Unbelievable! Wonder why I’m not somewhere nearby at the moment? Because I wasn’t in the know!’
A £118,000 monument to the author is set to be unveiled in June. It had to be put back from 2012, which would have marked 200 years since his birth, because not enough money had been raised.
But recently an anonymous benefactor has underwritten the last £25,000 of funding needed for the statue, which was commissioned by the Dickens Fellowship.
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