Great Expectations

From Great Expectations to Bridgerton: how TV period dramas are breaking the mould

History can be measured by recurrent events, such as the Olympics and American presidential elections that come around every four years. Both, as it happens, take place again this year.

Television drama is less regularly repetitive, but adaptations of Dickens’s Great Expectations were screened by the BBC in 1959, 1967, 1981, 2011 and 2023. The lengthier interval either side of the millennium was filled by major film versions that became fixtures in the TV schedules.

Everything you need to know about Great Expectations

What’s Great Expectations about?

Based on Dickens’ famous novel of the same name, Great Expectations tells the Victorian coming-of-age story of orphan Pip and his journey transcending his low social class.

The period drama is true to the original story. After Pip meets the mysterious and gothic Miss Havisham, he is catapulted into a high-society London where his life transforms. A tale of love, loyalty and wealth, the story follows Pip from childhood through to his adult years.

First look images of Olivia Colman in Steven Knight's Great Expectations released

Olivia Colman as Miss Havisham and Fionn Whitehead as Pip (Credit: BBC)

The first look images for the BBC six-part limited series sees Olivia Colman as Miss Havisham with Fionn Whitehead as Pip and Shalom Brune-Franklin as Estella. 

Steven Knight will write and executive produce the series, which will also be executive produced by Tom Hardy and Ridley Scott. 

Great Expectations tells the coming of age story and education of an orphan named Pip who dreams of becoming a gentleman.