‘Dickens would have loved it!’: Fans defend controversial Great Expectations adaptations after BBC show was savaged for ‘gratuitous’ sex scenes and foul language
Fans have defended the BBC’s latest adaption of Great Expectations after the show was savaged for it’s ‘gratuitous’ sex scenes and foul language.
Despite being panned by critics some viewers continue to be enamoured with the sexed up series with one declaring author Charles Dickens – who wrote the novel in 1861 – would have ‘loved it’.
Written by Peaky Blinders creator Stephen Knight, the series stars Fionn Whitehead as Pip and Olivia Colman as Miss Havisham.
Sunday’s third episode saw schemer Mr Jaggers (Ashley Thomas) train Pip to mercilessly climb the social ladder.
And taking to Twitter one viewer wrote: ‘To all those moaning about this: If adaptions of the classics don’t move with the times they become irrelevant. Dark, unsettling… Dickens would have loved it’.
Loving it: Fans have defended the BBC’s latest adaption of Great Expectations after the show was savaged for it’s ‘gratuitous’ sex scenes and foul language (Olivia Colman pictured as Miss Havisham)
Cheeky: Despite being panned by critics some viewers continue to be enamoured with the sexed up series
Adaption: Written by Peaky Blinders creator Stephen Knight, the series stars Fionn Whitehead as Pip and Olivia Colman as Miss Havisham (Fionn Whitehead, right, pictured with co-star Shalom Brune- Franklin)
While a second wrote: ‘So glad I stayed with it – brilliant episode. Fantastic acting, sets and costumes – not as the book but who cares!’.
And a third commented: The BBC Great Expectations 2023 is brilliant. Furthermore I believe Dickens would have approved. The updating and alterations to fit in with the times yet convey the same essential message’.
With another adding: ‘You will enjoy Great Expectations – It’s gritty and dark but interesting!’.
It comes after the Dickens Fellowship blasted a scene in the series which saw bare-bottomed Mr Pumblechook spanked over a bed by housewife-turned-dominatrix Mrs Gargery.
Screenwriter Steven has sexed up the tale in a nod to topics he feels the author hinted at, but couldn’t explore in 19th century Britain.
‘Come upstairs now,’ beckoned Mrs Gargery, played by Hayley Squires, as she removed her wedding ring, grabbed a whip and asked: ‘Are you ready?’
‘You know what’s coming don’t you? Turn around,’ she said before proceeding to strike a naked Matt Berry, who plays Pumblechook, ten times as he was bent over her bed.
Explaining the decision to embellish the story, Knight said he tried to ‘imagine if Dickens was writing the story now and had the freedom to go to those darker places’ and asked: ‘What would he do?’
Convinced: One viewer declared author Charles Dickens (pictured) – who wrote the novel in 1861 – would have ‘loved it’.
Great telly: And taking to Twitter one viewer wrote: ‘To all those moaning about this: If adaptions of the classics don’t move with the times they become irrelevant. Dark, unsettling… Dickens would have loved it’
But the Dickens Fellowship, a global association of people who share an interest in the classic author’s life and works, accused Knight of being ‘disingenuous’.
Honorary general secretary Paul Graham claimed Knight simply embellished the tale to ‘generate viewership’, adding that Knight’s explanation was ‘slightly ridiculous’.
He said: ‘How can he put himself in Dickens’ place and say what he would have done? I think the scenes would appear just gratuitous. I don’t know if Dickens would have put in a spanking scene!… Pumblechook is essentially a comic character with no hint of sexual deviancy…’
In a previous episode also saw Miss Havisham setting up a grown-up Pip, played by Fionn Whitehead, to lose his virginity on his 18th birthday.
The jilted spinster, played by Olivia Colman, tells him: ‘On this the occasion of your 18th birthday… you must be proficient in all things. Horse riding, dancing, boxing, and sex.’
Thoughts: One ‘gratuitous’ scene was blasted by the Dickens Fellowship, which said there is ‘no hint of sexual deviancy’ about the character Pumblechook (pictured)
Shocking stuff: In a previous episode also saw Miss Havisham setting up a grown-up Pip, played by Fionn Whitehead, to lose his virginity on his 18th birthday
She then presents him to Mrs Gibbons, from the local congregation, and says: ‘Feel free to behave any way you wish with Mrs Gibbons… have fun.’
Knight has also added ‘opium addict’ to Miss Havisham’s repertoire, with the character seen frequently inhaling from a pipe.
Mr Graham said there is ‘no evidence in the text itself that she smoked opium’, adding that laudanum would have been a more likely addiction for her class at the time.
‘Making her into an opium addict is going one step further than he needed to go if he wanted to show she was addicted to something,’ he said. ‘Dickens could have included that but he didn’t. Clearly this is a radical interpretation.’
Knight, who previously adapted A Christmas Carol for the BBC, has expressed interest in tackling A Tale of Two Cities next. But Mr Graham blasted: ‘Leave him [Dickens] alone! He’s doing the entire canon… if you try to mess around with the classics you’ll be very lucky if you improve it.’
Great Expectations, written in 1860, follows orphan Pip, who is taken on as a companion for Miss Havisham and her adopted daughter Estella (played by Shalom Brune-Franklin) before moving to London after he comes into money from a mysterious benefactor.
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