Charles Dickens has long been regarded as one of the world’s most beloved authors, with his books being endlessly revisited in almost every form. Adapted at least 28 times across the stage, film and TV, Great Expectations returned to the screens once again most recently in a BBC six-part series starring Olivia Colman as the deeply troubled Miss Havisham.
Peaky Blinders writer Steven Knight, who created the adaptation, said he chose Dickens’ tale because it’s “a story of class mobility and class intransigence” that remains “very timely”.His attempt received mixed reviews, some harsh. Though Collider said the classic had been “deftly reborn”, The Standard’s Melanie McDonagh said, “I can’t think of an adaptation I’ve hated more”.
