David Farnor | On 18, Mar 2023

BBC One’s new adaptation of Great Expectations will officially begin this month, and a new trailer gives us a first look at the drama in action.

Produced by FX Productions in association with the BBC, Scott Free and Hardy Son & Baker, Great Expectations tells the coming-of-age story of Pip (Fionn Whitehead), an orphan who yearns for a greater lot in life until a twist of fate introduces him to the mysterious and eccentric Miss Havisham (Olivia Colman) and Estella (Shalom Brune-Franklin), showing him a dark world of possibilities. Under the great expectations placed upon him, Pip will have to work out the cost of this new world and whether it will truly make him the man he wishes to be.

Steven Knight has written and executive produced Great Expectations alongside Tom Hardy (A Christmas Carol, Inception), Ridley Scott (The Martian, Blade Runner), Dean Baker (Taboo, Trophy), David W Zucker (The Good Fight, The Man in the High Castle), Kate Crowe (Misfits, You Don’t Know Me) and Tommy Bulfin (Peaky Blinders, The Tourist) – the team behind FX’s A Christmas Carol – with Brady Hood (Top Boy, The One) and Samira Radsi (Holiday Secrets, Knightfall) as directors.

The series co-stars Ashley Thomas (Top Boy, The Ipcress File), Johnny Harris (A Christmas Carol, The Salisbury Poisonings), Hayley Squires (Adult Material, The Essex Serpent), Owen McDonnell (Killing Eve, Death in Paradise), Laurie Ogden (The Colour Room, The Show Must Go Online), Matt Berry (The IT Crowd, Snuff Box), Trystan Gravelle (The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, Baptiste) and Rudi Dharmalingam (The Split, Our Girl).

You can see them in action at 9pm on Sunday 26th March, when the series premieres on BBC One, with episodes arriving weekly.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dX4L07C07z

 

First look: Olivia Colman as Miss Havisham in Great Expectations

14th July 2022

Olivia Colman will star in BBC One’s new adaptation of Great Expectations, and new images give us a first look at her as Miss Havisham.

The six-part limited series for the BBC and FX once again retells the coming-of-age story of an orphan nicknamed Pip. Dickens first released it in a series of weekly chapters, beginning in December 1860, before it was subsequently published as a novel.

Steven Knight is writer and executive producer of the drama, which will also be executive produced by Tom Hardy, Ridley Scott, Dean Baker, David W. Zucker, Kate Crowe – the team behind 2019’s A Christmas Carol – and Tommy Bulfin for the BBC. It is the second Dickens adaptation penned by Knight, following A Christmas Carol, and is part of a series of adaptations of Dickens’ novels commissioned by Charlotte Moore, Chief Content Officer, and Piers Wenger, former Director of Drama at the BBC, and FX.

The cast includes Fionn Whitehead as Pip and Shalom Brune-Franklin as Estella, alongside Ashley Thomas, Johnny Harris, Hayley Squires, Owen McDonnell, Trystan Gravelle, Rudi Dharmalingam and Matt Berry.

Filming on the series continues in the south of England.

 

Olivia Colman, Matt Berry to star in BBC’s Great Expectations

18th February 2022

Olivia Colman and Matt Berry are among the star names lining up for BBC One’s new take on Great Expectations.

Colman will star as Miss Havisham alongside Fionn Whitehead, Ashley Thomas, Johnny Harris, Shalom Brune-Franklin, Hayley Squires, Owen McDonnell, Trystan Gravelle and Berry.

Great Expectations is the coming-of-age story of an orphan nicknamed Pip. Dickens first released it in a series of weekly chapters beginning in December 1860 before it was subsequently published as a novel.

A co-production between the BBC and FX, the six-part drama is written by Steven Knight. Knight will also executive produce Great Expectations, alongside Tom Hardy, Ridley Scott, Dean Baker, David W. Zucker, Kate Crowe and Mona Qureshi for the BBC.

It is the second Dickens adaptation penned by Knight, following the hit limited series A Christmas Carol. They are the first two in a series of adaptations of Dickens’ novels commissioned by Piers Wenger, Director of Drama and Charlotte Moore, Chief Content Officer at the BBC, and FX. The BBC and FX also produced the acclaimed drama series Taboo, starring Tom Hardy, written by Steven Knight and produced by Knight, Hardy, Chips Hardy, Ridley Scott, Dean Baker and Kate Crowe.

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