Great Expectations (1989 TV miniseries)

Great Expectations is a British television serial based on Charles Dickens' novel of the same title. The six-part serial was first broadcast on the ITV network in 1991^[1] though it was distributed on video in the United States in 1989.

Jean Simmons, who played the role of the young Estella in the 1946 movie, played Miss Havisham in the 1989 version. Other key roles include John Rhys-Davies as Joe Gargery, Ray McAnally as Jaggers, Anthony Calf as the adult Pip, Kim Thomson as both young and adult Estella, Adam Blackwood as Herbert Pocket, Anthony Hopkins as Abel Magwitch, Niven Boyd as Orlick, Susan Franklyn as Biddy and Martin Harvey as young Pip. Having the same actress play Estella as a child and adult provided a smoother transition in following the character than in some adaptations.

The miniseries format, running five hours, enabled much more of the original story to be filmed than other versions, allowed the restoration of significant characters omitted in other versions, such as Orlick and Wopsle, and the better examination of the roles of other characters, such as Biddy, Drummle, Miss Havisham and the adult Estella. The result is more understandable plot development, and the revelation of themes of the work that tend to be obscured in shorter versions, such as class striving and the values of character vs. wealth. This version takes relatively few liberties with characters and plot turns, and adheres closely to Dickens' published ending.

Jean Simmons who had played Estella, the exquisite young woman encouraged to break men's hearts by the bitter and reclusive Miss Havisham in David Lean's film of 1946, returned here to Dickens' late masterpiece. But whereas Martita Hunt, 'played Miss Havisham as a magisterial Queen Mary figure', Simmons saw Miss Havisham, 'as a physically frail woman; her hate and disappointment give her strength.'

Cast

• Magwitch - Anthony Hopkins
• Miss Havisham - Jean Simmons
• Joe Gargery - John Rhys-Davies
• Mr Jaggers - Ray McAnally
• Pip - Anthony Calf
• Estella - Kim Thomson
• Herbert - Adam Blackwood
• Young Pip - Martin Harvey
• Mrs Gargery - Rosemary McHale
• Orlick - Niven Boyd
• Compeyson - Sean Arnold
• Uncle Pumplechook - Frank Middlemass
• Mr Wopsle - John Quentin
• Mr Hubble - Preston Lockwood
• Mrs Hubble - Eve Pearce

References

External links

• Great Expectations at the Internet Movie Database