Page 10 | Great Expectations BBC One 9pm Sunday

CrossPurposes · 2023-03-26T17:42:04+00:00

Yet another version begins tonight: [[https://www.bbc.com/mediacentre/articles/2023/great-expectations-steven-knight https://www.bbc.com/mediacentre/articles/2023/great-expectations-steven-knight]]

Girliefriendlikespuppies · 02/05/2023 22:02

We're now watching Bleak House on iplayer which is soooo much better!!

Girliefriendlikespuppies · 02/05/2023 22:04

I was actually willing Biddy to tell Pip to fuck off, imagine being married to that miserable, petulant, self absorbed man.

He was so rude to his sister about the apprentice pay as well, I wanted her to slap him!!

woodhill · 02/05/2023 22:08

Girliefriendlikespuppies · 02/05/2023 22:04

I was actually willing Biddy to tell Pip to fuck off, imagine being married to that miserable, petulant, self absorbed man.

He was so rude to his sister about the apprentice pay as well, I wanted her to slap him!!

She married Joe in the novel I think

CeliaNorth · 02/05/2023 22:27

She married Joe in the novel I think

She did. Which was much better plotting. Pip learned a lesson - that Biddy wasn't just there waiting around for him to notice her - and Joe got the happy ending he deserved, being a thoroughly good and decent man.

We're now watching Bleak House on iplayer which is soooo much better!!

Is that the 2005 version? There was an earlier version, with Diana Rigg and Denholm Elliott, which was also very good. Denholm Elliott was always worth watching.

Beeinalily · 02/05/2023 23:43

@CeliaNorth I agree about Joe, he was my favourite character in the book. What happened to him in this version, or don't I want to know?

Sausagenbacon · 03/05/2023 05:46

The Denholm Elliot Bleak House was good but they messed with the ending as well.

Girliefriendlikespuppies · 03/05/2023 07:31

I think it must be the 2005 version, it has everyone in it! Although I can't see Julia from Motherland as anyone other than Julia from Motherland these days 🙈

I don't know this story and am really loving it so far.

CeliaNorth · 03/05/2023 09:27

I agree about Joe, he was my favourite character in the book. What happened to him in this version, or don't I want to know?

I don't know - I decided not to watch, having read opinions of the first episode! If nothing else, the changed ending seems to have left him and Estella hanging, rather than finishing off their stories.

CurrentHun · 03/05/2023 10:41

Well, life would be dull if everyone liked the same things.
I really enjoyed this ‘inspired by’ version and all of the complex plotting in it. And I will go back and reread the book which I have pretty much forgotten, for a different experience.
Perhaps they shouldn’t have called it Great Expectations and then it could have been freed, critically, to stand on its own merits- which I thought was an excellent costume drama.
Ashley Thomas is an absolutely fantastic villainous actor as Mr Jaggers, and Olivia Colman as always, is brilliant to watch.

Beeinalily · 03/05/2023 11:42

@CeliaNorth Perhaps Joe and Estella married and she chased him around the house with a big stick. They do say people always go for the same type!

rookiemere · 03/05/2023 11:56

Apologies as I haven't read the book, but is Joe not already married to Pips sister?

Deadringer · 03/05/2023 12:47

Pips sister dies. Can't quite recall how, properly in a fit of rage.

LIZS · 03/05/2023 13:23

Deadringer · 03/05/2023 12:47

Pips sister dies. Can't quite recall how, properly in a fit of rage.

She is attacked by Joe's apprentice (Orlick?) and eventually dies of her injuries having been unable to speak since. Iirc she was abusive to Pip and regularly beat him. Joe then finds happiness with Biddy,

rookiemere · 03/05/2023 13:33

It's a real shame they took that bit out. Would have added some welcome character development and a shift away from gurning Pip.

I still can't work out if he was just a dreadful actor or the part was just very badly written. A bit of both I suspect.

DivineAffliction · 03/05/2023 20:55

LIZS · 03/05/2023 13:23

She is attacked by Joe's apprentice (Orlick?) and eventually dies of her injuries having been unable to speak since. Iirc she was abusive to Pip and regularly beat him. Joe then finds happiness with Biddy,

Show quote history

in a classic bit of Dickensian misogyny, the angry, dissatisfied female character is punished by literally getting battered into silent submission when she tries to interfere in stuff relating to the forge. See also the bitter, wealthy, powerful Miss Havisham punished for her cruelty by being burned to death by her own wedding dress, and the proud, cold ‘unwomanly’ Estella punished into feeling by being married to a wife-beater. The only female character who is rewarded with domestic bliss is the humble Biddy, who never seeks more than she’s given.

memoriesofamiga · 03/05/2023 21:01

Given Dickens' own treatment of his wife his treatment of his characters doesn't surprise me in the slightest @DivineAffliction .

DivineAffliction · 03/05/2023 21:18

memoriesofamiga · 03/05/2023 21:01

Given Dickens' own treatment of his wife his treatment of his characters doesn't surprise me in the slightest @DivineAffliction .

No, the man was a total pig to poor Catherine.

Sausagenbacon · 04/05/2023 10:23

IMO if you go down the rabbit hole of dismissing fiction because of what the authors were like you wouldn't read much. Evelyn Waugh and Kinglsey Amis weren't men I would like to meet, but it doesn't stop me reading their fiction.
And, re what happened to Pip's sister, are we no longer allowed to have unpleasant female characters in fiction?

Beeinalily · 04/05/2023 14:46

If I never listened to Wagner due to his views I'd be denying myself one of my biggest pleasures.

woodhill · 04/05/2023 17:32

Sausagenbacon · 04/05/2023 10:23

IMO if you go down the rabbit hole of dismissing fiction because of what the authors were like you wouldn't read much. Evelyn Waugh and Kinglsey Amis weren't men I would like to meet, but it doesn't stop me reading their fiction.
And, re what happened to Pip's sister, are we no longer allowed to have unpleasant female characters in fiction?

Plus Dickens was of his time.

Sausagenbacon · 04/05/2023 17:36

Exactly

KillingMeDeftly · 04/05/2023 17:44

This was a very strange adaptation though it wasn't without its merits. The standout for me was Bashy as Jaggers - he was brilliant and so sinister. But Pip and Estella were quite dreary and I'm not sure I'll recover from Mrs Joe's bit of S&M with Matt Berry!

The adaptation I remember liking was the late 80s version with Jean Simmons as Miss H and Anthony Hopkins as Magwitch. There was also a mid-90s one with Charlotte Rampling but I don't remember much of it. I think Ioan Gruffydd was Pip?

Girliefriendlikespuppies · 04/05/2023 22:53

Sausagenbacon · 04/05/2023 10:23

IMO if you go down the rabbit hole of dismissing fiction because of what the authors were like you wouldn't read much. Evelyn Waugh and Kinglsey Amis weren't men I would like to meet, but it doesn't stop me reading their fiction.
And, re what happened to Pip's sister, are we no longer allowed to have unpleasant female characters in fiction?

Couldn't agree more.

I think Dickens is actually pretty fair in portraying unpleasant characters both male and female and likewise their unpleasant demises!

Mr Krook in Bleak House being a good example 🔥