Great Expectations (2023 TV series)

Last updated

Great Expectations
Genre Historical drama
Based on Great Expectations
by Charles Dickens
Written by Steven Knight
Directed by
  • Brady Hood
  • Samira Radsi
Starring
Country of origin
  • United Kingdom
  • United States
Original languageEnglish
No. of episodes6
Production
Executive producers
Running time58 minutes
Production companies
Original release
Network
Release26 March (2023-03-26) 
30 April 2023 (2023-04-30)

Great Expectations is a historical drama television miniseries developed by Steven Knight, based on the 1861 novel by Charles Dickens. It premiered on BBC One on 26 March 2023, [2] followed by its US premiere on FX on Hulu later the same day. [3]

Contents

Premise

Great Expectations is the coming-of-age story of Pip, an orphan who yearns for a greater lot in life, until a twist of fate and the evil machinations of the mysterious and eccentric "Miss Havisham" shows him a dark world of possibilities. Under the great expectations placed upon him, Pip will have to work out the true cost of this new world and whether it will truly make him the man he wishes to be. A damning critique of the class system, Dickens' novel was published in 1861 after first release in weekly chapters in December 1860. [4]

Cast

Episodes

No.Title [5] Directed byWritten byOriginal release date [5] BBC One broadcast [6] UK viewers
(millions)
1"Episode 1"Brady Hood Steven Knight 26 March 2023 (2023-03-26)26 March 20234.51
2"Episode 2"Brady HoodSteven Knight2 April 2023 (2023-04-02)2 April 20233.38
3"Episode 3"Brady HoodSteven Knight9 April 2023 (2023-04-09)9 April 20232.87
4"Episode 4"Brady HoodSteven Knight16 April 2023 (2023-04-16)16 April 2023N/A
5"Episode 5"Samira RadsiSteven Knight23 April 2023 (2023-04-23)23 April 2023N/A
6"Episode 6"Samira RadsiSteven Knight30 April 2023 (2023-04-30)30 April 2023N/A

Production

Knight announced in May 2020 that he would develop a television series adaptation of the Charles Dickens novel in collaboration between the BBC and FX, his second after 2019's A Christmas Carol . [7]

In February 2022, the cast for the series was announced, with Olivia Colman cast as Miss Havisham, and Fionn Whitehead cast as Pip. [8] Filming began by March 2022, with production taking place at Buckler's Hard, Hampshire on 30 March. [9]

Reception

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes , 44% of 41 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 5.4/10.The website's consensus reads: "Even with the inestimable Olivia Colman as a ringer, Steven Knight 's try-hard reimagining of Dickens ' masterwork falls well below expectations." [10] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 52 out of 100 based on 17 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". [11]

Related Research Articles

<i>Great Expectations</i> 1860–1861 novel by Charles Dickens

Great Expectations is the thirteenth novel by English author Charles Dickens and his penultimate completed novel. The novel is a bildungsroman and depicts the education of an orphan nicknamed Pip. It is Dickens' second novel, after David Copperfield, to be fully narrated in the first person. The novel was first published as a serial in Dickens's weekly periodical All the Year Round, from 1 December 1860 to August 1861. In October 1861, Chapman & Hall published the novel in three volumes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Miss Havisham</span> Fictional character in Charles Dickens Great Expectations

Miss Havisham is a character in Charles Dickens' 1861 novel Great Expectations. She is a wealthy spinster, once jilted at the altar, who insists on wearing her wedding dress for the rest of her life. She lives in a ruined mansion with her adopted daughter, Estella. Dickens describes her as looking like "the witch of the place". In the novel, she schemes to have the young orphan, Pip, fall in love with Estella, so that Estella can "break his heart".

Estella (<i>Great Expectations</i>) Dickens novel character

Estella Havisham is a significant character in Charles Dickens' 1861 novel Great Expectations.

Pip (<i>South Park</i>) 14th episode of the 4th season of South Park

"Pip" is the fourteenth episode in the fourth season of the American animated television series South Park. The 62nd episode of the series overall, it first aired on Comedy Central in the United States on November 29, 2000. Going by production order, it is the fifth episode of the fourth season instead of the fourteenth. The episode is a parody and comedic retelling of Charles Dickens's 1861 novel Great Expectations, and stars the South Park character Pip, who assumes the role of the protagonist of the novel, who is his eponym. "Pip" features no other regular characters from the show. The story is narrated in a live action parody of the anthology television series Masterpiece Theater, with the narrator played by Malcolm McDowell.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Olivia Colman</span> English actress (born 1974)

Sarah Caroline Sinclair, known professionally as Olivia Colman, is an English actress. She has received various accolades, including an Academy Award, four BAFTA Awards, two Emmy Awards, and three Golden Globe Awards.

<i>Great Expectations</i> (1946 film) 1946 film by David Lean

Great Expectations is a 1946 British drama film directed by David Lean, based on the 1861 novel by Charles Dickens and starring John Mills and Valerie Hobson. The supporting cast included Bernard Miles, Francis L. Sullivan, Anthony Wager, Jean Simmons, Finlay Currie, Martita Hunt and Alec Guinness.

Great Expectations is an 1860 novel by Charles Dickens.

Great Expectations is a British-American television serial based on Charles Dickens' 1861 novel of the same title. The serial was first broadcast in the US in three parts on The Disney Channel in 1989, and in the UK in six parts on the ITV network in 1991.

<i>Great Expectations</i> (1934 film) 1934 film by Stuart Walker

Great Expectations is a 1934 adaptation of the 1861 Charles Dickens novel of the same name. Filmed with mostly American actors, it was the first sound version of the novel and was produced in Hollywood by Universal Studios and directed by Stuart Walker. It stars Phillips Holmes as Pip, Jane Wyatt as Estella and Florence Reed as Miss Havisham.

<i>Great Expectations</i> (1974 film) 1974 US/UK drama film by Joseph Hardy

Great Expectations is a 1974 film made for television based on the Charles Dickens 1861 novel of the same name. It was directed by Joseph Hardy, with screenwriter Sherman Yellen and music by Maurice Jarre, starring Michael York as Pip, Simon Gipps-Kent as Young Pip and Sarah Miles as Estella. The production, for Transcontinental Films and ITC, was made for US television and released to cinemas in the UK. It broke with tradition by having the same actress play both the younger and older Estella. The film was shot by Freddie Young. It was filmed in Eastmancolor and it was entered into the 9th Moscow International Film Festival in 1975.

<i>Great Expectations</i> (1999 film) 1999 British TV series or programme

Great Expectations is a 1999 television film adaptation of Charles Dickens’s 1861 novel of the same name. It was aired on BBC Two in the UK, and on Masterpiece Theatre in the US.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Steven Knight</span> British screenwriter and film director

Steven Knight is a British screenwriter, producer, and director for film and television. He wrote the screenplays for the films Closed Circuit, Dirty Pretty Things, and Eastern Promises, and also wrote and directed the films Locke and Hummingbird. Knight is one of three creators of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, a game show that has been remade and aired in around 160 countries worldwide. He is also the creator of the BBC's Peaky Blinders and has written for Commercial Breakdown, The Detectives, See, and Taboo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Johnny Harris (actor)</span> English actor, screenwriter, producer and director

Johnny Harris is an English actor, screenwriter, producer and director.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Compeyson</span> Fictional character

Compeyson is the main antagonist of Charles Dickens' 1861 novel Great Expectations, a 'George Wickham'-esque man, whose criminal activities harmed two people, who in turn shaped much of protagonist Pip's life.

<i>Great Expectations</i> (2011 TV series) 2011 TV serial directed by Brian Kirk

Great Expectations is a three-part BBC television drama adaptation by Sarah Phelps of the Charles Dickens’s 1861 novel of the same name, starring Ray Winstone as Magwitch, Gillian Anderson as Miss Havisham, Douglas Booth as Pip, Vanessa Kirby as Estella and David Suchet as Jaggers. The adaptation was first broadcast on British television over the Christmas period in 2011.

<i>Great Expectations</i> (2012 film) 2012 British film

Great Expectations is a 2012 British-American film adaptation of Charles Dickens' 1861 novel of the same name. The film was directed by Mike Newell, with the adapted screenplay by David Nicholls, and stars Jeremy Irvine, Helena Bonham Carter, Holliday Grainger, Ralph Fiennes and Robbie Coltrane. It was distributed by Lionsgate.

Pip (<i>Great Expectations</i>) Fictional character

Philip Pirrip, called Pip, is the protagonist and narrator in Charles Dickens's novel Great Expectations (1861). He is amongst the most popular characters in English literature. Pip narrates his story many years after the events of the novel take place. The novel follows Pip's process from childhood innocence to adulthood. The financial and social rise of the protagonist is accompanied by an emotional and moral deterioration, which forces Pip to recognize his negative expectations in a new self-awareness.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fionn Whitehead</span> English actor

Fionn Whitehead is an English actor. He portrayed the lead role in the 2017 film Dunkirk and the 2018 film Black Mirror: Bandersnatch. His first acting credit was in the 2016 ITV miniseries Him.

<i>A Christmas Carol</i> (TV series) 2019 British television drama series

A Christmas Carol is a 2019 British dark fantasy drama television miniseries based on the 1843 novella by Charles Dickens. The three-part series is written by Steven Knight with Tom Hardy and Ridley Scott among the executive producers. It began airing on BBC One in the UK on 22 December 2019 and concluded two days later on 24 December 2019. Prior to this, it aired in the US on FX on 19 December 2019, with all three episodes shown consecutively as a single television film.

<i>Great Expectations</i> (1967 TV series) 1967 British TV series or programme

Great Expectations is a British television series which first aired on BBC 1 in 1967. It is an adaptation of the 1861 novel Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, which follows a humble orphan suddenly becoming a gentleman with the help of an unknown benefactor.

References

  1. "Great Expectations - Everything you need to know about Steven Knight's new BBC adaptation of Charles Dickens' story". BBC Media Centre. 7 February 2023.
  2. "BBC One - Great Expectations, Series 1, Episode 1".
  3. Ramachandran, Naman (7 February 2023). "'Peaky Blinders' Creator Steven Knight's 'Great Expectations' Adaptation Sets Hulu Premiere Date". Variety. Retrieved 7 February 2023.
  4. "'Great Expectations'". FX Networks. 16 February 2023. Retrieved 17 February 2023.
  5. 1 2 "Shows A-Z – Great Expectations on FX on Hulu". The Futon Critic . Retrieved 7 March 2023.
  6. "Great Expectations". BBC One . Retrieved 27 March 2023.
  7. Tartaglione, Nancy (13 May 2020). "Steven Knight To Adapt Dickens' Great Expectations In Reteam With BBC/FX, Ridley Scott & Tom Hardy". Deadline Hollywood . Retrieved 18 February 2022.
  8. White, Peter (17 February 2022). "Olivia Colman, Fionn Whitehead & Matt Berry Among Cast Of FX/BBC's Great Expectations". Deadline Hollywood . Retrieved 18 February 2022.
  9. Jackson, Fiona; Taylor, Mike (30 March 2022). "Great Expectations produced by Tom Hardy starts filming at New Forest beauty spot". Dorset Live. Retrieved 2 April 2022.
  10. "Great Expectations (2023): Season 1". Rotten Tomatoes . Fandango Media . Retrieved 24 June 2023.
  11. "Great Expectations (2023): Season 1: Season 1". Metacritic . Fandom, Inc. Retrieved 3 April 2023.