‘Too dark, too sweary, too unrecognisable’: Disappointed Great Expectations viewers switch over during first episode of BBC1 series
Disappointed Great Expectations viewers said they had to ‘switch over’ when watching the first episode of the BBC1 series on Sunday night.
Those who tuned in to the adaptation of Charlies Dickens’ 1861 novel complained that it was ‘too dark’, featured too much swearing and was ‘unrecognisable’ from the original tale.
Written by Peaky Blinders creator Stephen, the novel has been given a new twist, but those watching this version at home were left unimpressed.
The series stars Olivia Colman as Miss Havisham – who is portrayed as an opium addict – while Fionn Whitehead stars as Pip, Shalom Brune-Franklin as Estella, Ashley Thomas as Mr Jaggers and Johnny Harris as Magwitch.
One wrote on Twitter in reaction after the first instalment: ‘#GreatExpectations Too dark, too sweary, too unrecognisable’.
Oh no: Disappointed Great Expectations viewers said they had to ‘switch over’ when watching the first episode of the BBC1 series on Sunday night (Olivia Colman as Miss Havisham)
Not happy: Those who tuned in to the adaptation of Charlies Dickens’ 1861 novel complained that it was ‘too dark’, featured too much swearing and was unrecognisable from the original tale (young Pip is pictured)
Another said: ‘ Why does the BBC have to include the ‘f’ word constantly even in a Dickens story? #GreatExpectations.’
A third said: ‘That whirring sound is Charles Dickens spinning in his grave. WTF BBC? #GreatExpectations.’
Another said: ‘I’m not feeling #Greatexpectations here. Feeling the need to turn it off!’
After just a few minutes another said: ‘Already hit the off button #GreatExpectations.’
Another wrote: ‘Not a great start so far. This is less an adaptation than a confection! Why does the BBC think it has the creative ability to improve Dickens? It really hasn’t! Rant over. #GreatExpectations.’
A different disappointed viewer said: ‘Well, I managed to watch 18 minutes … and that was enough. Now over to Netflix #GreatExpectations.’
Someone else said: ‘Not all that much like the book so far. #GreatExpectations.’
Another said: ‘New #GreatExpectations isn’t terribly good…’
Reaction: One wrote on Twitter in reaction after the first instalment: ‘#GreatExpectations Too dark, too sweary, too unrecognisable’
Cast: The series stars Olivia Colman as Miss Havisham (pictured) – who is portrayed as an opium addict – while Fionn Whitehead stars as Pip, Shalom Brune-Franklin as Estella, Ashley Thomas as Mr Jaggers and Johnny Harris as Magwitch
Adaptation: Written by Peaky Blinders creator Stephen, the novel has been given a new twist, but those watching this version at home were left unimpressed (young Pip is pictured)
Happy: However there were a few who enjoyed the episode, with one saying: ‘Different, exciting, brilliant interpretation. Absolutely fabulous’
However there were a few who enjoyed the episode, with one saying: ‘Different, exciting, brilliant interpretation. Absolutely fabulous.’
Another said: ‘I enjoyed the first episode of #GreatExpectations after reading some comments on Twitter. Some folk are very quick to review/criticise or expect so much at once.’
A third said: ‘That was a quick hour. Really enjoyed that!’
Great Expectations is the second Dickens adaptation penned by Steven, following the hit limited series A Christmas Carol.
Author Charles first released the work in a series of weekly chapters beginning in December 1860, before it was subsequently published as a novel.
His famous novel follows the story of Pip, who lives with his sister Mrs Joe Gargery and her blacksmith husband Joe.
The bitter Miss Havisham engineers a meeting between the young Pip and Estella with a view to having him fall in love with her so she can break his heart.
Line of Duty actress Shalom plays the aloof and enigmatic Estella, who becomes Pip’s obsession.
Steven adapted Dickens’ A Christmas Carol for the BBC in 2019, starring Guy Pearce as Scrooge.
There have been many adaptations of the classic novel over the years, both on the big and small screen.
War and Peace actress Tuppence Middleton, 35, played the character as a younger woman in the BBC’s 2016 serialisation, Dickensian.
Helena Bonham Carter, 56, portrayed Miss Havisham in Mike Newell’s 2012 film adaptation, co-starring Jeremy Irvine as Pip and Ralph Fiennes as Abel Magwitch.
Gillian Anderon, 54, was a rather more glamorous and youthful incarnation of the character a year earlier in a BBC mini-series starring Douglas Booth and Vanessa Kirby.
In 1999 Charlotte Rampling, 77, played the role opposite Ioan Gruffudd’s Pip while Anne Bancroft played a modernised version of the character in Alfonso Cuarón’s 1998 film version starring Gwyneth Paltrow and Ethan Hawke.
Earlier versions include Jean Simmons’ portrayal in an 1989 mini-series, having previously played Estella in David Lean’s 1946 film opposite Martita Hunt as Miss Havisham.
Miss Marple actress Joan Hickson played the role in 1981 while Margaret Leighton took on the part in 1974.
One of the earliest screen portrayals of Miss Havisham was Florence Reed in the 1934 film.
Miss Havisham is usually portrayed as an older woman but is in her mid-30s at the beginning of Dickens’ novel.
In this version creator Stephen has also included references to the British Empire’s connections to the slave trade, with several characters hammering home an anti-colonial message.
Knight, creator of Peaky Blinders, said: ‘What I didn’t want to do – and I think Dickens never tried to do – was make something specifically political.
‘He was never banging the drum, he was just saying, ‘This is what’s going on’ and people could draw their own conclusions. You couldn’t write about certain things in Dickens’ time: Certain elements of sexuality, crime, disobedience against the crown and state.
‘What I tried to do was imagine if Dickens was writing the story now and had the freedom to go to those darker places, what would he do? If he had been liberated to write the things that were going on that he wasn’t allowed to write about.’
Other noteworthy scenes show an ecstatic Mr Pumblechook being spanked in a dingy bedroom.
Colman, who plays the jilted Miss Havisham, said: ‘The first time I read Steven Knight’s script, I thought it was much darker than what I had remembered from school. Quite a few bottom-slapping moments, which I did not recall from the original Dickens! There were quite a few changes and I found it quite gripping.’
Colman’s turn as the wealthy spinster sees her addicted to opium, frequently inhaling from a pipe in her rotting wedding dress in between educating Pip – played by Tom Sweet as a child and then Fionn Whitehead – in how to become a gentleman.
One such lesson is offering him up to a member of the local congregation to lose his virginity on his 18th birthday.
The first episode opens with Pip contemplating suicide on a bridge as opposed to being approached by the criminal Magwitch on the marshes. Later scenes see him refusing to earn a considerable sum of money from selling manacles and chains to be used for the incarceration of slaves. Magwitch says the Empire was built on the lies of privileged white men.
Critics have condemned the use of profanities in the new version, with Pip yelling ‘take your f****** hands off me’ in episode one.
On playing the renowned role, Olivia explained: ‘Miss Havisham is a woman who was madly in love with someone; she went to get married and he never turned up. Her life stopped from that moment, pretty much.
‘She is only really in her forties, but she is always depicted as a much older woman. We have gone for long white hair and lots of broken veins. We think she went white with the shock and the heartbreak.
Harrowing: Colman’s Miss Havisham is seen in the throes of addiction in one scene in an upcoming episode
Stars: (L-R) Young Pip (Tom Sweet);Sara Gargery (Hayley Squires) and Joe Gargery (Owen McDonnell)
New life: 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 (Chloe Lea pictured as Young Estella)
Plan: The bitter Miss Havisham engineers a meeting between the young Pip and Estella with a view to having him fall in love with her so she can break his heart (Matt Berry pictured as Mr Pumblechook)
‘In this version she is an opium addict, so she has had a bit of a life – indoors, no sunshine.
‘She adopts a baby, Estella who she sort of trains to be an assassin in a way; to hurt men as much as she was hurt.’
Great Expectations also stars Ashley Thomas, Johnny Harris, Hayley Squires, Owen McDonnell, Laurie Ogden, Matt Berry, Trystan Gravelle and Rudi Dharmalingam.
Great Expectations is set to air on the BBC from 26 March 2023.
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