The first full-length trailer for the BBC's new adaptation of Great Expectations has been released. Oscar-winning actress Olivia Colman plays Miss Havisham in the hotly-anticipated series.
She leads an impressive cast that also includes Dunkirk actor Fionn Whitehead and Our Girl star Shalom Brune-Franklin. Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight has written the series, which is his second Charles Dickens adaptation after enjoying success with his interpretation of A Christmas Carol in 2019.
The story follows the story of an orphan nicknamed Pip, played by Whitehead, who falls in love with an upper class young woman called Estella. Pip's social rise is accompanied by an emotional and moral deterioration as the story progresses.
The near two-minute trailer opens with bitter spinster Miss Havisham saying: "When I was young I was blinded by love. Now look on what remains of me."
She then enquires of a young Pip (Tom Sweet) "May I ask what is your intention?", to which he answers: "I believe once you have made your fortune, love is not so hard to find."
Miss Havisham's voice can then be heard saying: "And so it begins, a common boy, now handsome man. Innocent, moments before the great corruption."
The man who becomes Pip's legal guardian, Mr Jaggers (Ashley Thomas), is then seen shouting: "I’m looking for a boy by the name of Pip Gargery. A secret benefactor gave me instruction to bring him to London and teach him."
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When Pip asks "teach me what?", Jaggers answers: "The wicked ways of this wicked city."
Estella, played by Brune-Franklin, is shown asking Pip: "Do you feel love?". "Yes," he responds, in a charged moment between the pair. Wemmick (Rudi Dharmalingam), who goes on to befriend Pip, tells him: "Mr Jaggers has insisted that you stay under my protection."
As the trailer grows darker, Estella says: "The devil will come." Short bursts of violent images are shown before Miss Havisham tells Estella: "You can break his heart."
Speaking of Miss Havisham, Estella admits: "What she taught me was how to be her weapon of revenge, to be used against all men." An angry Pip then seethes: "You can’t think about marrying that idiot."
In a separate clip, Pip is told: "If you really want to win Estella you’ll need more than love." Estella can then be heard instructing him: "Do everything I tell you to do."
In another chilling exchanged Pip is asked if he has brought his waterproofs. When he asks "will we be walking through water?" he hears: "No, we’ll be walking through rivers of blood."
The trailer comes to an end with Miss Havisham saying: "Estella, what a prize creature we have fished form the river."
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