Charles Dickens’ classic novel Great Expectations has been adapted for the screen several times, but viewers have highly praised one version starring Gillian Anderson, Douglas Booth, Ray Winstone, and David Suchet. The adaptation, with Douglas portraying Orphan Philip Pirrip and Gillian playing the wilted and warped Miss Havisham, first aired on BBC One in December 2011 in the run-up to Christmas.
Ray played escaped convict Abel Magwitch, and Napolean and The Crown actress Vanessa Kirby brought Estella, Pip’s love interest, to life. The three-part series follows how Pip, a blacksmith’s apprentice, comes into a large fortune from a mysterious benefactor and relocates from a country village to London as he enters high society.
Young Pip has to grow up fast as he deals with the complexities of ambition and suffers heartache in the adaptation, created by Sarah Phelps, based on the 1861 novel of the same name.
Addressing playing twisted spinster Miss Havisham, who was jilted at the aisle and refused to take her wedding dress off decades later in her cobwebbed, covered mansion, Gillian told the BBC: “Miss Havisham is an iconic character that kind of pervades our world in various forms.
“I was kind of interested in what it was that was so appealing about her, why she seems to get under people’s skin, a woman who is deeply, almost psychotically manipulative and potentially really psychologically damaging to the two children that we see her have this direct impact on, and so there was a curiosity there for me.”
Fans have branded the series the “perfect adaptation” of Great Expectations, with one writing: “The BBC 2011 adaptation was outstanding—superbly cast and pitch perfect in every way. For me, this is the definitive TV adaptation.”
Someone else said, “This is the version I prefer. Douglas Booth does a fine job, as do all the actors and actresses.” Another shared, “I absolutely love this take on Dickens’ classic.” A fourth penned, ” I expected it to be great, and it was!”
Another said, “We need to talk about Gillian Anderson absolutely killing it as Miss Havisham. It was unsettling how much she brought out of that character.”
This version is not to be confused with the 2023 adaptation, which also aired as a miniseries on BBC One and starred Oscar-winner Olivia Colman as Miss Havisham, Fionn Whitehead as Pip, and Shalom Brune-Franklin as Estella.
Great Expectations is available to watch on BBC iPlayer.