Another Great Expectations. Why?

Well which audience do you want it to appeal to? The Victorians are all dead, and didn’t watch much telly anyway 😉

Great Expectations is the Dickens that people who don't like Dickens as a rule actually quite enjoy. I used to be one of those. It's a good story which has a lot of lessons for our own time, assuming people are paying attention.

The BBC will have made it with an eye on overseas markets, especially the US. Tastes and expectations change, a lesson I reluctantly realised after I was furious with the BBC for remaking Poldark with some bit of rough in the lead instead of reviving the 1970s production with the wonderful Robin Ellis and Angharad Rees. Too pretty, it seems, for modern drama!

Real Dickens fans mainline the heavyweights of his maturity, Bleak House, Little Dorrit and Our Mutual Friend. I know there was a Bleak House quite a while ago now but these seldom get a look-in.

AmberSpyglass

I’d sell my soul for a good adaptation of Wilkie Collins’ Armadale.

Actually, I’d sell my soul for a good adaptation of The Woman in White, but I’ve accepted that they’ll never capture the way it looks and feels in my head.

There was a 5 part series of The Woman in White in 1982 with a running time of 5 hours which gives plenty of time to explore plot and characters. I do remember Alan Badel being very good as Count Fosco.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Woman_in_White_(1982_TV_series)

Thoroughly enjoyed it. I’m not overly judgmental and easily pleased though.

My favourite Dickens is David Copperfield and my favourite version is the 1999 film with Daniel Radcliffe, just because it's a lot of fun. Apart from the Murdstones and Mr Creakle the characters are not so dark and it's a good introduction to Dickens for youngsters.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Copperfield_(1999_film)

Pip wasn't a teenager, he was supposed to be about 7 at the beginning.

Pip wasn't a teenager, he was supposed to be about 7 at the beginning

Exactly. Last nights ‘young’ Pip looked about 17

Grandmabatty

BBC has many flaws but they do historical drama superbly well. I loved Bleak House. I'm a big fan of Dickens so I'll give it a go

Bleak House was superb! The bonus being that it was a storyline that I didn’t know. I remember sitting in the kitchen on my own watching the last episode as I didn’t want DH to talk while it was on ( which he’s prone to doing). I haven’t watched GE’s yet but I did love Peaky Blinders and SAS Rogue Heroes. I was watching a programme last night that said Dickens changed the ending. I’m not a great fan of Great Expectations or David Copperfield though. I wish someone would do an adaptation of The Pickwick Papers.

Last night's episode should have seen Pip going from age 7 to 8.
He is not yet apprenticed to Joe either.

I don't mind new adaptations but dislike having basic storylines changed, it makes the whole story very muddled.

I wish the BBC were a bit more adventurous. Robert Tressel's The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists might be a good start. In my opinion BBC TV has gone down in quality generally.

I wasn’t expecting to enjoy it as I expected it be annoyingly altered. The last one missed the whole point of the book which was when poor, kind Joe Gargery was the subject of embarrassment for Pip when he visited him. Instead we were given a strong minded, bumptious Joe and the essence of the story was lost. However, so far the new series has been quite good, filling in gaps that we imagined and very watchable. If anything is awry it’s that Pip seems to be a little too old and Estella doesn’t seem as pretty as you would expect. That sounds mean but so far I suppose I have the young Jean Simmons in mind. Will be watching next week.

Grantanow

I wish the BBC were a bit more adventurous. Robert Tressel's The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists might be a good start. In my opinion BBC TV has gone down in quality generally.

You didn’t like The English, Life After Life or SAS Rogue Heroes? Years and Years. The Tourist? Killing Eve ( although that should have ended after series 2).

I gave up on it. Just couldn't be bothered.

Not watching it, Olivia Coleman has put me off.i

There was a very good production of Our Mutual Friend, was it in the 70s or 80s? I know Jane Seymour was in it. It actually got me to read the book - which is quite a thick one. I like Olivia Coleman but I don't think she's right for Miss Havisham. She's coming over as pettish whereas there's quite a nasty edge to the character.

My view of GE has been forever coloured by the Radio 4 series 'Bleak Expectations'. It's a pastiche of the works of Dickens with characters such as Philip (Pip) Bin and his guardian, Mr Gently Benevolent - a wonderful name! I now find it hard to take the original seriously.

I think the reason for GE being televised so often (apart from the fact that it’s such a good book) is that it is very visual. The marshes, the big house, London, the Gargery’s house - all easy enough to portray, but giving a variety of scenes in the same episode. Obviously most of Dickens’ works do that, as they were episodic, but GE more than most.

I just don’t understand why they cast Olivia Colman, when probably the greatest actress to play a Dickens character is still working and would be ideal for the role.

I speak, of course, of Mrs Cratchitt herself - the iconic female lead of A Muppet Christmas Carol, Miss Piggy.

Ooh Amber 🤗

A really interesting read on the ‘real’ Miss Havishams, and an all round excellent blog

www.davidcastleton.net/miss-havisham-lady-lewson-jane-charles-dickens-great-expectations/

It’s because too many white ppl in all the others. It’s being updated i don’t care what your skin colour as long has you good at acting lol Yes I will probably watch it i do like dramas from that time. But I’ve only just caught up with call the midwife

No, I didn't. I find Prime and Netflix better (though there are some poor films and series there too) and a good source of European and Indian material. Babylon Berlin is hugely interesting about the 20s and 30s and the most expensive German series ever made but I doubt the BBC will bother to buy it.

Chestnut

I shan't be watching as GE has been done to death and I have seen several versions already. I will record and take a peek to confirm what I already suspect, but honestly who comes up with this nonsense? I find Olivia Colman so flippin' annoying in real life that I can't take anything she does seriously any more. I just see her as Olivia Colman in a wig and long dress.

Your comments about Olivia Coleman ring true with me. Did you see her in The Favourite and more recently in Empire of Light? Both rubbish films and such a long way from her humble start in the excellent hospital comedy Green Wing. She's become such a luvvie but no Judi Dench

I loved Dickens at school and GE is one of my favorite novels. Ive seen many adaptations but the John Mills one is my favorite.

I quite enjoyed the first episode.

I dont agree that Pip was foul mouthed or moody. He just wanted to visit the graves of his dead parents and siblings. He reminds me of myself as a child because I always answered back. With me it was visiting my (living) grandmother which my parents did not approve of so I just sneaked there. Some of the things my mother said were as silly as the "bringing berries into the house is inviting the devil in" and so on.

If the BBC are going to update all the classics to make them more acceptable to a modern audience, as has happened somewhat here, why don’t they go the whole hog and transfer it to the present day? One of the most exciting adaptions I have ever seen is the film ‘Romeo and Juliet’ with Leonardo di Caprio and Clare Danes in the title roles. Completely updated while keeping the beautiful Shakespearean language. It certainly opened my adult children’s eyes to the wonder of the Bard! Or is dragging round in Victorian costume and subtly infiltrating modern sensibilities simply too tempting for the BBC?