Credit: BBC
Under Her Eye
Great Expectations: Olivia Colman makes a chilling Miss Havisham in the first trailer for the BBC’s Dickens adaptation
3 years ago
1 min read
Olivia Colman and Steven Knight, the Peaky Blinders creator, are bringing their very own version of Great Expectations to the BBC.
There have been many, many, many adaptations of Charles Dickens’s classic novel over the years, which means many of us by now know the story of Great Expectations almost by heart. Pip, a young English orphan, rises to wealth, deserts his true friends and eventually becomes humbled by his own arrogance. And along the way, he meets the forever iconic Miss Havisham.
Now, though, Steven Knight of Peaky Blinders fame is bringing us his very own interpretation of the classic tale to the BBC. And, yes, you better believe we’re excited.
Here’s what you need to know.
What’s Great Expectations all about?
You know how it goes with Dickens stories: a humble orphan boy in 1810s Kent is given the opportunity to go to London and become a gentleman with the help of an unknown benefactor. Will young Pip be able to hold firm to his true self and values? And how will he handle the strange characters he meets along the way – especially the tortured Miss Havisham and the arrogant, beautiful Estella?
Watch the trailer for Great Expectations below:
In the opening moments of the first full-length trailer, we hear Miss Havisham, still wearing her wedding dress decades after being left at the altar, look back on how her experience of romantic rejection shaped her twisted worldview.
“When I was young, I was blinded by love,” she says. “Now look on what remains of me.”
Later in the clip, we are introduced to our young hero Pip, who first visits Miss Havisham at her home in Satis House as a young boy, where he meets (and becomes enchanted by) the beautiful Estella, who has been trained by her adopted mother to shun affection.
“All she taught me was how to be her weapon of revenge, to be used against all men,” she explains when she is older.
Coming from humble beginnings as a blacksmith, Pip’s fortunes turn around when he learns that he has a wealthy, mysterious benefactor, and his newfound wealth allows him to enter high society, where he will continue to cross paths with Estella.
We are 100% sold.
Who stars in Great Expectations?
This much-anticipated BBC adaptation stars Olivia Colman as Miss Havisham, Fionn Whitehead as Pip and Line Of Duty’s Shalom Brune Franklin as Estella.
Ashley Thomas (Top Boy), Johnny Harris (The Salisbury Poisonings), Hayley Squires (The Essex Serpent), Owen McDonnell (Death In Paradise), Laurie Ogden (The Colour Room), Matt Berry (The IT Crowd), Trystan Gravelle (The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power) and Rudi Dharmalingam (The Split) round off the cast perfectly.
Who is producing Great Expectations?
Alongside Knight, the series has been executive produced by the likes of Tom Hardy and Sir Ridley Scott.
When can we watch Great Expectations?
Great Expectations will air on BBC One and BBC iPlayer this spring, with an exact date yet to be announced. Over in the US, it is set to air on FX from 26 March, so there’s a high chance we can expect it to land on British screens around the same time.
Main image: BBC
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