I will happily admit to absolutely loving the most recent BBC TV adaptation of Charles Dicken’s Great Expectations. Gillian Anderson as Miss Haversham was absolutely terrific, as was David Suchet as Mr. Jaggers and Ray Winstone as Magwitch. The cinematography was superb – some really beautiful photography even if the colour grading tended to go too much for the now all typical washed out colour scheme (too many films have been using it recently – it’s like bullet time, bloody fantastic once and outrageously annoying when everybody else does it). I was very impressed with the make-up work as well. I see BAFTAs on the horizon..
Alas! This, like The Borrowers, is another remake (although THIS one is vastly superior to The Borrowers in every way). Indeed the BBC have remade Great Expectations FIVE times now. Twice in association with Masterpiece TV (this 2011 edition and the one made back in 1999). The BBC first dramatised the novel way back in 1959, then 1981, then 1999 and now this year’s (admittedly excellent) edition. That’s four – what about the fifth? Well, the BBC are making a FILM version.
I am getting ever increasingly concerned that the BBC is not using it’s license fee money to provide new and original programming. It feels like we’re just getting repeats and remakes (and then repeats of the remakes) for no good reason. I have NOT seen the previous adaptations mentioned above other than this year’s version. I’m not overly concerned with the film since that’s being financed from BBC’s commercial arm and not the license fee. Hell, I may even go and see it when it comes out in the cinema.
Please BBC, stick to your remit otherwise there will be much shaking of fists and letters to the Trust over the way the company is “uniquely funded” and what people are getting out of it. Don’t muck things up any further.
I think they should repeat them again so that we can really understand them also because they are really good actors.