HARRY Potter actress and The Real Marigold Hotel star Miriam Margolyes is returning to Malton this year for the second time to headline the Christmas Dickensian Festival.

BAFTA-winning Miriam, whose one-woman show Dickens’ Women was nominated for an Olivier award, will perform on Saturday, December 17, at the Milton Rooms.

Miriam said: “I am delighted to support the festival for the second year in a row. I fell in love with Dickens at school and would like to appeal to children, young people and adults alike to come and enjoy the spirit of A Christmas Carol.

"Dickens is the best. Once you’re hooked by his words, his books will enrich you over a lifetime. It’s going to be enormous fun.”

Joining Miriam will be one of the world’s leading Dickens scholars, Professor John Bowen, from York University, who will be giving a talk called Dickens Magic. Minced pies and mulled wine will be available in the interval. The audience will be encouraged to ask questions at the end of the show.

Lucinda Hawksley, author and great, great granddaughter of Charles Dickens, will host a festive lunch at the Talbot Hotel on December 18. Guests will be welcomed with a glass of Smoking Bishop - the original mulled wine recipe used by Charles Dickens in A Christmas Carol.

Lucinda will talk about her celebrated ancestor, read extracts from Dickens’ books, sign copies of her latest book Charles Dickens and his Circle and answer questions. Tickets for the lunch are available from the Talbot, priced £25. Phone 01653 639096 to book.

The event has been organised by the Malton Dickensian Festival volunteer team, who raised funds to bring home a rare, signed copy of A Christmas Carol in 2012 from a New York collector.

The book, the team believe, adds weight to the claim he based Scrooge’s Counting House on his friend Charles Smithson’s office in Chancery Lane. Smithson was a young lawyer in Malton and Dickens was godfather to Smithson’s daughter Mary.

When Smithson died tragically young, aged 39, Dickens travelled to the funeral in Malton and sent on the inscribed copy of A Christmas Carol to his pregnant widow, Elizabeth. Dickens’ brother Alfred, also lived in Malton.

Broadcaster Selina Scott, who lead the crusade to bring home the iconic book to the Yorkshire market town, said: "We are delighted Miriam Margolyes, one of the finest actors of her generation, was so entranced with Malton and is returning again this year. The spirit of Dickens truly permeates the place. We are expecting people to came from all over the UK to our little town to celebrate A Christmas Carol.”

The rare edition of A Christmas Carol will be on display at The Talbot hotel throughout the festival.

Other festive events will be held on Saturday, December 10, when Victorian travelling theatre, Penny Plain Theatre will perform a Christmas miscellany of old carols, mummery, and dance.

The Charles Dickens Society of Malton will deliver regular performances in venues throughout the town and welcome visitors to the Scrooge’s Counting House Museum. They will also be hosting Dickensian walking tours and treasure hunts. A Christmas Carol merchandise will be on sale for Christmas shoppers. Dickensian foodie events will also be taking place at the Malton Cookery School.

Tickets for Miriam Margolyes are available from the Milton Rooms box office, priced £14. To book, phone 01653 696240.