Name: Great Expectations
Genre: Drama
Released: 2023-03-26T00:00:00+00:00
Cast: Olivia Colman, Fionn Whitehead, Ashley Thomas, Johnny Harris, Hayley Squires

The decaying wedding dress clinging to Olivia Colman’s Miss Havisham like a second skin is the most striking image in Steven Knight’s Great Expectations (2023), a BBC adaptation that leans hard into the gothic grotesqueries of Dickens’ novel. The series, which condenses the sprawling bildungsroman into six hour-long episodes, is a visual feast—Colman’s performance in particular is a masterclass in controlled madness—but it stumbles when trying to reconcile its sumptuous production values with the source material’s moral ambiguity.

What works best here is the way Knight and his team embrace the novel’s darker impulses. The opening episode, set in the marshes where young Pip (Fionn Whitehead) encounters the escaped convict Magwitch (Johnny Harris), is shot like a horror film, all mist and menace. Harris, with his wild eyes and rasping voice, makes for a compellingly unhinged Magwitch, and Colman’s Miss Havisham is both tragic and terrifying, her decaying Satis House a perfect metaphor for the novel’s themes of stagnation and regret.

The series also benefits from strong supporting performances. Ashley Thomas brings a weary gravitas to Mr. Jaggers, while Owen McDonnell’s Joe Gargery exudes quiet kindness in a world that often seems devoid of it. Hayley Squires, as Sara, Pip’s sister-in-law, delivers a standout turn, her character arc one of the few genuinely surprising elements in this adaptation.

But where Great Expectations (2023) falters is in its handling of the novel’s central themes. Dickens’ exploration of ambition and self-improvement is often reduced to broad strokes here, with Pip’s moral failings occasionally glossed over in favor of melodrama. The series also struggles to reconcile its gothic aesthetic with the novel’s more grounded moments, leading to a tonal whiplash that undercuts some of its most dramatic scenes.

The pacing, too, is an issue. While the condensed runtime allows for some welcome streamlining of Dickens’ plot, it also means that certain character relationships—particularly Pip’s with Estella (played here by Shone Romulus)—lack the necessary nuance and development. The emotional core of the story sometimes feels rushed, as if Knight is so eager to get to the next set piece that he forgets to linger on the quieter, more intimate moments.

That said, Great Expectations (2023) is never less than handsome to look at. The production design is meticulous, with each frame dripping with period detail.