Another Great Expectations. Why?

Why am I watching it?

Well, I'm not really, but DH is and I'm supposedly concentrating on my craft project in the same room!

I am not enjoying the new GE. It makes me think and revise my prejudices about casting. This revision was long overdue for my part, and I admit I usually watch dramas for sheer entertainment, so the new GE makes me work.

Also the new GE has the main theme of the morally bankrupt society founded on slave trading and similar profiteering on human misery. Hardly the stuff of light entertainment .

The casting is all wrong. A Muppets version would have been better. Knight would extract sex and violence from the Teletubbies. All rather pathetic,in order to entice a young and ethnically diverse viewer (as if).
If you want quality drama, Britbox have the wonderful Smiley's People with perfect asting and marvellous actors.

Loving it!

Why has Estella got a London accent - she was supposed to be 'upper-class'?
There's another question I'd like to ask here, but won't bother!

Thought that it ended up being ridiculous, a sort of parody. Not bothering with any more episodes.

Joseanne

^Why has Estella got a London accent - she was supposed to be 'upper-class'?^
There's another question I'd like to ask here, but won't bother!

As none of it bears any resemblance to reality I don't think her accent is even worth mentioning. It is all just an exercise in weirdness.

Chestnut

Joseanne

Why has Estella got a London accent - she was supposed to be 'upper-class'?
There's another question I'd like to ask here, but won't bother!

As none of it bears any resemblance to reality I don't think her accent is even worth mentioning. It is all just an exercise in weirdness.

As good an answer as any 😂😂😂

Ps, I shall whisper this very quietly Chestnut -
None of it is real, the book was a work of fiction too, shhh, don't tell anyone.

Well maybe fiction, but it's nice to think there is some resemblance to reality, which this version doesn't have.

I shall continue to watch my favourite 1989 version which I mentioned Sun 02-Apr-23 14:59:54. It's set in England in the 1800s. And Estella speaks very nicely too (Kim Thomson).

Chestnut

Well maybe fiction, but it's nice to think there is some resemblance to reality, which this version doesn't have.

I shall continue to watch my favourite 1989 version which I mentioned Sun 02-Apr-23 14:59:54. It's set in England in the 1800s. And Estella speaks very nicely too (Kim Thomson).

I agree, some of it bears no resemblance to England in the early to mid 1800s.

Just spotted this. Nick Knowles is no fan and is not watching any more. (quote) 'Why do we sex up period dramas?' Nick Knowles slams 'car crash' BBC adaptation of Great Expectations saying it's 'unnecessarily salacious'
Full article here

I loved the book. I also loved Peaky Blinders. I just wish we could have kept them apart.

Last week I thought it was an interesting adaptation but now having seen the second week’s adaptation I have changed my mind. I do not like it. They have changed it to Peaky Blinders/Stephen King etc. Pip dealing opium! Miss Haversham arranging sex for Pip. The changes went on and Pip looked all of thirty and not the young vulnerable boy that Dickens gave us. By the end I was not entertained just angry.

What is the benefit, if any, of reproducing the original story?

If Pip's education is undertaken by Miss Havisham does this add an interesting dimension? Will Pip's innate kindness and decency see him safely through Miss Havisham's cynicism?

Pip's education being undertaken by Miss Havisham doesn't add an interesting dimension, it skews the whole plot. Pip grows up believing that his future is being mapped out by Miss Havisham when, in fact, Magwitch is behind it all. Hence his horror when he finds out the truth. Up until that point there has actually been little sign of any innate kindness and decency either.

Chestnut

I have recently ordered my favourite version which is the 6 part mini-series from 1989 starring Anthony Hopkins and Jean Simmons. This was widely acclaimed as being the best version ever made, and the closest to the book. It's over 5 hours long which allows for greater exploration of the characters, and how can you go wrong with Anthony Hopkins as Magwich and the wonderful Jean Simmons as Miss Haversham (see picture). She plays her as bitter but vulnerable, and with kindness at the core. This was a lovely touch as she was Estella in the 1946 version.

This has never been released on DVD except in German, but if you change the language back to English then hey presto! It's 5 hours of pure relaxation, no dark fantasies and CGI, just real people with real emotions.
]]

I've just discovered this is available in English free on You Tube. Just search for 'Great Expectations 1989'. So I ordered the German DVD for no reason! 🤦‍♀️ Still, I'm pleased this is available for people to see because it's so good.

I was really looking forward to watching GE from Charles Dickins. Forced myself to watch the 3rd ep. but no more, it is absolute crap & does not depicted London in the 1800 at all.

I hope the original will be put on over the Easter holidays, so I can watch & enjoy that.

Charles Dickens!

We are revising sentimental ideas of what established London as a very wealthy city. The new edition of GE addresses Britain's leading role in the slave trade and the part Britain played in the opium trade. It also discusses the machinery by which individuals get rich ( i.e. became "gentlemen" )by dining on the bodies and souls of others.

While previous editions of the story were great plots, acting, decor, and dialogue they all to some extent avoided the historical fact that London's wealth is sordid.

What you say is very true Caleo but why not just write a new drama about it? It might give a better result because the writer doesn't seem to grasp the plot of the novel at all. Why are we seeing Magwitch all the time? Once he was recaptured he was out of sight and out of mind until the shock (to Pip and to the reader) of his return many chapters later. Estella wasn't forced into an arranged marriage, she married Bentley Drummle because she wanted to show her power over men. I wonder what he's going to do with the death of Miss Havisham and the murder of Mrs Gargery.

Deedaa, I have never read the novel by Dickens. I like to watch dramas as I find them, and I don't object to divergence from the original novel.
I have no complaints about sheer entertainment I like The Sound of Music as well as anyone. However I do like to have my prejudices shaken up and rearranged , and I guess Dickens would applaud the historically focussed perspective of the new GE drama.

If you have never read the book Caleo we are talking about two completely different things. I imagine that as a straight drama this adaptation works perfectly well. I'm can't say what Dickens would have thought, all his work was very focussed on the social conditions at the time.

I agree Deedaa. I guess you seek an authenticity in the form of closeness to the original script by Dickens, whereas I want loads of social and historical comment which I believe to be consistent with current historiography.

I am not say Dickens was in error in any way. I am saying that events have moved on so that Dickens was more than justified, and society today is still Dickensian .

I think Dickens would probably be appalled at the speed society is moving backwards.