# Great Expectations (2011)

> An orphan boy is lifted into genteel society by a secret benefactor and drawn into the warped world of a jilted, embittered spinster.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/38838

## Facts

- Seasons: 1
- Episodes: 3
- Episode runtime: 60 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: drama
- Created by: Brian Kirk
- Network: BBC One, PBS
- Cast: Douglas Booth, Jack Roth, Ray Winstone, David Suchet, Shaun Dooley, Gillian Anderson, Claire Rushbrook, Vanessa Kirby
- TMDB rating: 7.5/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1949720/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: measured
- Intensity: moderate
- Complexity: layered
- Violence: mild
- Tone: brooding, melancholic, gothic, melodramatic, atmospheric

## What critics say

Audiences rated this three-part BBC adaptation of Dickens' novel positively, praising its faithful, atmospheric rendering of the story.

## Synopsis

Great Expectations (2011) is a British three-part literary period drama miniseries created by Brian Kirk for BBC One and PBS, adapted from the Charles Dickens novel. Douglas Booth plays Philip Pip Pirrip, an orphan from the marshes who is told by lawyer Mr. Jaggers, played by David Suchet, that an anonymous benefactor will fund his education and transform him into a gentleman. Pip's rise pulls him toward Miss Havisham, a jilted and embittered recluse played by Gillian Anderson, and toward Estella, the beautiful and emotionally cold young woman Vanessa Kirby plays. The engine of the drama is Pip's ambition to become worthy of Estella while the hidden money behind his fortune shapes every choice he makes. Each hour moves through Victorian London and the dank Kent countryside, with fog, candlelit mansions and decaying wedding finery building a mood of gothic melancholy. Ray Winstone and Mark Addy add menace and comedy to the supporting cast. The tone is brooding and melodramatic, with class anxiety, guilt and the cost of ambition at its core. Fans of Oliver Twist, Little Dorrit and Jane Eyre will find resonance in its literary sweep and haunted interiors.

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