Dickens character in uninteresting, dull work (8)
I believe the answer is:
drudgery
'dull work' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'dickens character in uninteresting' is the wordplay.
'dickens character' becomes 'rudge' (I've seen this before).
'in' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'uninteresting' becomes 'dry' (I've seen this before).
'rudge' inserted within 'dry' is 'DRUDGERY'.
(Other definitions for drudgery that I've seen before include "Dull menial work" , "Menial hard work" , "Hard monotonous donkeywork" , "Dull routine work" , "Hard and tedious work" .)