A podcast exploring the history of some of the world’s most famous men is releasing a Christmas special all about a Kent author.

The festive episode of Legacy, hosted by journalist Afua Hirsch and historian Peter Frankopan, will look at the life and influence of Medway’s own Charles Dickens and see if his reputation as an influential literary figure still holds up today.

Award-winning author Afua and Oxford history professor Peter will discuss some of Dickens’ most well-known works, including Great Expectations, Oliver Twist and A Christmas Carol.

The novelist spent his childhood years in Chatham and Rochester, where the new season of the Legacy podcast begins.

The Dickens family first moved to Chatham in 1817, when Charles was just five years old, and the author returned to the area in his later life, spending his final 14 years at Gads Hill Place in Higham where he died in 1870.

The pair will look back at the Victorian author’s life and debate whether he is still considered the ‘Godfather of Christmas’ and a ‘pillar of 19th century Englishness’, or whether the writer really preferred the rivers of Paris to the streets of London.

The new four-part season launches on Wednesday, December 11 with a special Christmas episode available on Christmas Day.