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Great Expectations is something I didn’t particularly have for yet another adaptation of a Charles Dickens novel.
I’ve never read it, but for whatever reason, previews of this were available for big websites, but not for smaller websites. Why some PR companies have a two-tier system, I don’t know. I believe in equality, and for that reason I’d also get rid of the Royal Family, since why do one family live in luxury and opulence, while most others struggle, with some having to use foodbanks. We really haven’t progressed as a society.
But while we try to campaign to abolish the monarchy, we go back to London, 1839, where Pip (Fionn Whitehead – Dunkirk) is about to toss himself off… a bridge, and break his neck, but is sort-of saved at the last moment by someone cutting the rope.
Flash back to Xmas Eve, 1832, and on the HMS Retribution, Compeyson (Trystan Gravelle – Quiz) starts a fire in his prison cell, in a bid to overpower the guards and escape. Similarly, Magwitch (Johnny Harris – The Salisbury Poisonings) also takes flight, and they’re not on the best of terms, given that the former left the latter to potentially burn to death.
Meanwhile, the young Pip (Tom Sweet – Gunpowder), has an angry sister, Sara (Hayley Squires – The Essex Serpent), where they live with Sara’s husband, Joe (Owen McDonnell – The Holiday).
Because reasons, Pip ends up having to visit with Miss Havisham (Olivia Colman – Empire Of Light) occasionally, alongside Estella (Shalom Brune-Franklin – The Tourist) – so she can turn him into a gentleman, but most of the time, the two escapees are arguing, fighting, and a whole lot of nothing happens. As a result, the opening episode is almost over by the time Ms Colman appears.
Only Matt Berry (House Of Fools) as Matt Berry amused me.
Great Expectations is currently sitting at 4.1/10 on IMDB. It’s flopping quicker than Ron Jeremy after his Viagra wears off.
And the split second the end credits began, so did the yapping from those fuckwits at Red Bee Media, waffling on about how the series continues next Sunday, as if anyone watching didn’t already figure out how a weekly series worked.
And yes, it’s a weekly series. You don’t get the whole thing ‘dropping’* on the iPlayer on day one. Since it’s co-funded by FX/Hulu, they also released episode 2, so I flicked through that for Olivia Colman’s scenes, since she’s barely in the first episode. It’s fun seeing her bark orders, but then we’ve seen her do that before, many times over, so she can skip this and watch an earlier entry in her repetoire. After that, came a ‘Coming this season…’ with clips from the rest of the episodes, but it was nothing to write home about, especially since I was already at home.
(*as da yoof might say)
Great Expectations continues next Sunday on BBC1 at 9pm, and the first episode is now available on the BBC iPlayer.
Series Directors: Brady Hood, Samira Radsi
Producer: Mark Kinsella
Writer: Steven Knight
Novel: Charles Dickens
Cast:
Young Pip: Tom Sweet
Miss Havisham: Olivia Colman
Estella: Shalom Brune-Franklin
Magwitch: Johnny Harris
Compeyson: Trystan Gravelle
Joe Gargery: Owen McDonnell
Sara Gargery: Hayley Squires
Mr Pumblechook: Matt Berry
Mrs. Gibbons: Emily Johnstone
Whistler: Mark Arden
Young Estella: Chloe Lea
Young Biddy: Bronte Carmichael
Jaggers: Ashley Thomas
HMS Retribution Guard: James Foster
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.