HARRY Potter actress Miriam Margolyes is returning to Malton this weekend 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: “Malton is the perfect setting for a Dickensian Festival and I'm looking forward to returning to The Milton Rooms'. 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. Mince pies and mulled wine will be available in the interval.

Lucinda Hawksley, author and great, great granddaughter of Charles Dickens, and broadcaster Selina Scott will host a Dickens Q&A and book signing at The Talbot Hotel on Friday evening at 6pm, followed by a lunch on December 18.

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.

Ms Scott, who led the crusade to bring home the book to the 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.”

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