Another Great Expectations. Why?

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/

Ooh Amber 🤗

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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

Exactly. Last nights ‘young’ Pip looked about 17

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

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)

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

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)

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.

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

Aah just to appeal to a "modern " audience methinks. I'll give it a watch, but if it loses its dynamic of the story, it'll be consigned to not worth a waste of my time.

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.

Doodledog I’m so glad you agree!
I watch it every Christmas too, sometimes twice.

While we’re on this subject, I’ll do another gratuitous plug for the magnificent BBC series Dickensian.
I believe it’s available to stream on UK TV Play.

FannyCornforth

And imo Muppet Christmas Carol is the definitive version; and definitely Michael Caine’s finest hour

I agree absolutely .

I'm not a fan of Michael Caine, but I love the Muppet Christmas Carol and watch it every year.

I don't think there can (or should) be only one interpretation of a novel in perpetuity. The whole point of being a scriptwriter (or producer) is to come up with new and relevant ways of interpreting a text, to make it resonate with a new audience. The characters didn't speak in an outdated manner in the original - they were contemporary to the time - so modernising the language isn't tampering with the intent. Additional plot twists just add to the fun. Unless someone is being tested on their recollection of the original (eg in an exam), what does it matter? If it's on the A level syllabus the obvious solution for candidates is to read the book . Otherwise, it is entertainment, and no different from retellings of fairytales or Shakespeare, or anything else, IMO.

Chestnut

For me it's no no and no.
An article by Christopher Stevens says it all:
Pip (Tom Sweet) is no longer a quick-thinking innocent with an over-active imagination, but a morose, insolent adolescent with a foul mouth.

He's a modern teenager!

Perhaps he dropped his mobile phone in the marshes, that's why he's so miserable.