Great Expectations. BBC1. 9pm.

[tiredemma]

Cant wait!

Trailer looks fab.

I thought Gillian Anderson really brought something new to Miss H, with her portrayal of her depression and ruined mental health. I liked the suggestion of self harm, as she picked away at her hands when she (metaphorically) stuck the knife into Pip at the end of episode one.

Also thought Joe was more credible and stronger than the bumbling bufoon of previous adaptations.

Douglas Booth should be modelling Calvin Kleins though, not doing Dickens. And a glittering career fawaits for the young Pip, I reckon.

I loved it. I studied Great Expectations for my A level English and it was much more close to the book than any of the film attempts I've watched Xx

Has anyone seen the modern version with Gwyneth Paltrow? Sounds like sacrilege to me, but would like to be convinced otherwise...

Love the David Lean film. Pip and Herbert have a picture of my Great x 4 grandfather on their sitting room wall!

Grr Gwyneth Paltrow she can't bloody act!!! She's the same in everything she does. She ruined it for me Xx

Predictably loved this, as I love Dickens & any opportunity to see his books come to life is like a great big visual feast.

Winstone's Magwitch was the king of the show - he somehow managed to make the character unfold & deepen in his appeal to the audience exactly in step with Pip's dawning realisation of the reality of his life. It's great to see the layers of a character peel off in this way without dominating the whole thing.

I completely agree with all the comments about Estella. Her beauty should have been almost painful in itself, not only to emphasise the power she wielded over men, but to highlight the extent of her fall as she's broken by a brute. She didn't look any different at the end, & yet in the book I'm sure she seemed older, wiser & saddened. The surface beauty had diminished (comes to us all, love) but the inner beauty had strengthened & come to the surface. Didn't see any of that poignant dignity I had hoped for.

As for the rest, Herbert, Joe, Jaggers & Young Pip were all excellent. I actually liked GA's Miss Havisham. Wrestled with the age thing at first & then thought there's only so long you can really hang around in the same dress (!) so it's probably realistic to think that she would have been around the 40-mark.

Loved it.

I loved it too and was (am) completely captivated by Douglas Booth - stunningly beautiful, but beautifully expressive too: not just a pretty face.

GA as Miss Havisham was inspired - tiny and mad. It was the veil that flew off, not her hair - fantastic scene. It looked like an accident to me in that she was too out of it to realise how close the flames were to her dress.

imo older Estella is a luminous beauty... if she were not so thin! the thinness aged her and stamped out her beauty. What on earth did they do to her hair at the end - she looked like an old maid. I think they got the casting right - right mixture of beauty, disdain, cruelty - but there was confusion throughout about how exactly to portray her and I think she lost out because of it.

Young Pip: lovely (watch this space); Joe utterly fanciable (I do so like a kind man) but I was so disappointed that they didn't include him throwing his boot after Pip as he drove off in the carriage to his GE. Poirot as Jaggers was slightly off-putting, not least because Poirot's mincing step was sometimes apparent - Jaggers would surely have strode, tails a-flapping. Molly looked like Pip's mother (same lips) not Estella's. Liked Magwitch's fabulous tattoos but would have liked the twirling at the beginning as per the book.

Enjoyed it immensely but entirely eclipsed in my affections by the gorgeous Douglas Booth - too, too beautiful for words.

SeptimusQuench, I completely agree, about Gillian (and the writers presumably) bringing something new to Miss H. An interesting choice to have her playing someone suffering from mental illness rather than 'mad' with cold rage and vengeance that I remember from the book and the John Mills adaptation. I loved her, her voice was especially good and so creepy .

Thought all the casting was great. Estella did ice queen beauty very well. Somewhat distracted by Pip's lips. Where do they find these glorious creatures who are quite good at the acting lark?

Just wish we could have had a week of hour long episodes [greedy]

I haven't watched the last episode yet but my bugbears are as follows:

1. The Gargerys live on the Kent Marshes. Why have they all got "Oooo Arrr Oi be drinkin coider" accents?

1. Why does everyone who knew Pip as an child recognise him instantly as an adult when he looks completely different? (This may annoy me because the actor reminds me strongly of a 10 year old boy I know - he would have been great as the young Pip!).

1. They have left out the funny bits.

1. Where was Joe's letter with the "What Larks" in it? That - and Joe's subsequent visit - have got to be the most sweetly poignant and excruciating bit of the whole book and they missed it out. Bloody shame I say!

1. Mrs Joe wasn't horrible enough. And they missed out the bit where she adores Orlick after the attack - wouldn't have used up much screen time to put that in!

1. Miss Havisham's house wasn't as strikingly cobwebby and neglected when Pip first went there. You could hardly see the wedding breakfast table.

As I said I haven't seen the end yet but IIRC the book has two endings, because Dickens was unsatisfed with the original one. One has Pip and Estella meeting and there being some hope for them in the future. The other has Estella married to Bentley Drummle and there is no hope.

I thought GA was very good. She could have been 35 - 40 ish when Pip first met her and then aged (apparently everwhere except her forehead ). I like how she physically seemed to shrink and become frailler

Ray was good. I too struggled with a beautiful Pip but managed to forget it as the actor was good

I enjoyed it despite initial reservations. GA's Miss Havisham was a great ethereal spectre - sinister, sad, bitter and confused by life - although young Pip didn't seem to fear her quite enough. Felt the absence of Biddy though - she is a neat foil in the book to the harsh realities of Pip's early life and the consolation for Joe - and the comic sub plot of Wemmick which is so characteristic of Dickens. However the ending seemed a bit too optimistic !

i really thought pocket was brilliantly portrayed... that's a character who you often want to punch for being so nice, but the guy did it brilliantly. can't remember his name right now but he was fantastic in Dr WHo as well.

Harry Lloyd - think he did another Dickens a few years back (David Copperfield?)

that's the chap. iirc he's posh and old-school.

• and he is Dickens' great-great-great grandson or something.

Which is nice.

I loved all of it and ultimately thought Ray Winstone stole the show or at least the last episode.

I really enjoyed this. I had to read it for my English exams too and as soon as we'd read the last page, we had to turn to the first page and start again! 3 times we read that book in a year!! it put me off anything to do with GE until this mini series...It's actually made me want to read the book again :)

The older Pip reminds me of my Ds actually

Poor you single! I have a handsome son and have had to get used to fending off women (and men) of all ages from when he was barely 14. Some people have no shame when it comes to a good-looking BOY

Feeling bad about my post upthread about older Estella. She's a human being after all. I'd never make a critic.

Oh dear springy :( my Ds is 13...what have I to look forward to? he is also touching 6 feet tall!!!

I was disappointed. Partly it was that you can't do justice to a Dickens novel in 3 hours - that's why it was so brilliant of Andrew Davies to do Bleak House and Little Dorrit as lengthy serials in half hour episodes (something like 10 or 12 hours in all, iirc).

Partly it was the miscasting. I felt GA was wrong as Miss Havisham, Pip was far too pretty but also lacking in personality and Estella wasn't beautiful enough. The humour in the novel disappeared altogether - it was all very sombre and atmospheric, whereas the novel, like all Dickens's novels, is very character-driven.

As for Miss Havisham catching fire, honestly, if you were burnt alive you'd scream like buggery, it would be bloody painful.

All in all, a C+.

I enjoyed it but haven't read the book don't think I can now? Agree Estella wasn't the right look. In fact I thought she looked a good 10 years older than Pip, and agree he's too pretty. Lips were distracting. Loved RW though and GA. She's near 50 in rl afaik?

I'll have to get Bleak house though as sounds as if I'll enjoy that?

Modern version was amazing, best film ever. Sound track out of this world

Really liked the series. GA was excellent as was ray winston

I thought it was great. However, I thought Pip was a little off. He was too scared and shy, lacked charisma in comparison to John Mills in the 1943 version. As for Ms Havisham, i wasn't sure. Sometimes i thought she was great others i thought she was cringe worthy. Other than that I'd give it a 9/10.

I loved it.
Loved the young Pip.
Agree the older Pip was clearly a posh beautiful boy rather than a Kentish lad-made-good, but could see beyond it.
Agree Estella was not quite beautiful enough.
Jaggers, Herbert, Joe, and particularly Miss H and Magwitch all excellent.
Think the ending was a little too positive "she has two fortunes now!" and weren't there more debts to pay (paid by Joe)? But haven't read it for 20 years, going to again now!
Apparently the film version, due out next year, (HBC will be an interesting Miss H, the "role she was destined for" I read) has a different "thriller" ending - sigh.

For those of you with Kindles or iPads, don't forget you can download Dickens books for free.