The Best Great Expectations Miniseries Is Unavailable for Streaming

It may sound crazy to say that the Disney Channel produced a better miniseries adaptation of Charles Dickens’s Great Expectations than the BBC ever did but that’s what happened in 1989!

Just eight years prior to the 1989 miniseries, the BBC had done its own version and it’s astonishing to see how much more visually appealing the later series was. Credit to that goes to director Kevin Connor, cinematographer Doug Milsome and production designer Keith Wilson. True, the sets don’t look as “lived in” as much as might be wished and the costumes even less so but for a TV serial of this time, they’re quite impressive and the locations are lovely.

The casting for the 1989 miniseries is also superior to that of the 1981 version and the scripts by John Goldsmith^[1]Who also wrote adaptations of The Old Curiosity Shop and David Copperfield in 1995 and 2000 respectively. are far more engaging. Basically, this adaptation makes the 1981 miniseries look dull and clunky in every way. Well, truth be told, I think that one comes across as dull and clunky by itself, so that’s small praise. But I’d also stake the 1989 Great Expectations against any of the other miniseries based on the book and there have been several. In fact, I’d stake it against any adaptation yet made. That’s not to say it’s only one that’s any good, just that it’s the most consistently great in my opinion.

Of course, nothing is perfect, so I’ll start with a flaw. Young Martin Harvey who plays the character of Pip in his childhood^[2]This is going to be one of those blog posts where I don’t explain the story. If you haven’t the read the book, you should either do so or read my previous post. is something of a weak link in the cast. His facial expressions are pretty great, but his line deliveries tend to sound fake compared to those of everybody else. And his crying sounds even more so.

Anthony Calf as the older Pip though is perfect. He looks and sounds more like how I imagine the character than any other portrayal I’ve seen, and he’s helped by the writing which excels at finding ways for Pip to express his thoughts aloud to the other characters that he only tells readers in the book. If I had blogged about this miniseries before I did my “awards ceremony” post, Calf’s Pip would have been a shoe in for best antihero.^[3]Jeremy Irvine’s Pip from the 2012 movie would have gotten an honorable mention.

Another problem with this production is the choice to have Pip’s two possible love interests, Biddy and Estella, each be played by a single actress throughout the whole series rather than using child actresses in the characters’ youths and older ones afterwards. I know, I know. It’s unfair of me to first say that the child actor for Pip was inferior to the adult actor and then criticize the decision to not use child actors for other characters.^[4]The only other character here to be portrayed by two different actors is Herbert Pocket who is played by Henry Power as a boy and Adam Blackwood, who was Dick Swiveller in The Old Curiosity Shop from … Continue reading This probably does make for more consistently great acting but if you’re not familiar with the story, it’s very confusing. Biddy’s early maturity isn’t as impressive when she looks like an adult from the beginning and there’s a scene where we see Estella as a teenager for the first time that was clearly written to be the first look viewers would get of her played by a new actress, but she looks just like she did the last time we saw her except that she’s wearing more age-appropriate clothing.^[5]Viewers familiar with the historical culture in which this story takes place can theoretically tell that the characters are supposed to be younger based on how they wear their hair. But if said … Continue reading

Fortunately, the actual quality of the actresses’ performances is exemplary. As I wrote previously, anyone playing Estella has to delicately balance many contradictory characteristics to bring this unforgettable character to life. Kim Thomson does so without breaking a sweat, giving us an Estella who is sometimes icily indifferent, sometimes casually friendly and sometimes intensely bitter. Returning to the scenario in which I’d blogged about this miniseries before my awards ceremony, she’d have won best antiheroine.

Susan Franklyn is also great as Biddy. Like Thomson, she’s helped by how well this adaptation develops her character. You could even argue she has a bigger presence here than in the book. (Remember what I wrote about this miniseries finding ways to have Pip confide things in other characters that he only tells us through narration in the book?) Estella may be the story’s leading lady, but this adaptation understands that Biddy is its heroine in the moral sense.

You’ve probably picked up by now that this miniseries has a stellar cast. As awkward and ignorant as the loveable Joe Gargery can be, John Rhys-Davies plays him without a hint of condescension or winking at the camera. Some of the most emotional moments in the series belong to him.

As Pip’s shrewish older sister, Rosemary McHale makes her character’s abuse of her brother and her husband genuinely disturbing while simultaneously bringing great comedic timing to the role.

Other great performances include those of Anthony Hopkins as Abel Magwitch, the escaped convict who terrorizes young Pip^[6]Though I must admit I prefer Ralph Fiennes from the 2012 movie, partly because, for once, the character is better developed there. Hopkins is still great though.,

Ray McAnally as Jaggers the fearsome lawyer^[7]Don’t read this footnote if you haven’t read the book or experienced any adaptations. His most memorable scene is in the last episode where, after being chilly and inhumane throughout the … Continue reading,

and Charles Lewsen as his clerk, Wemmick who is cold and businesslike to the point of cruelty in his “professional capacity”

but friendly and playful outside of office hours.

But as much competition as she has, the crown jewel of the cast by a long shot is Jean Simmons, whom you’ll recall played the young Estella in the 1946 movie, as Miss Havisham. She brings a throaty growl to every line that she doesn’t venomously spit or deliver in a mournful wail. Even when she’s not speaking, she seems to radiate bitterness. I fully believe that she’s brooded over her grudge every day for years. This is the most awesomely creepy Miss Havisham I’ve ever seen, and she would have won the “Adaptee” for best tragic villainess with her hands tied behind her back.^[8]I’ve gone on record as saying that Helena Bonham Carter was more moving as the remorseful Miss Havisham in the last act of the story and I’ll stand by that. But I enjoy Simmons’s … Continue reading

Nearly every minor character from the novel is present in this adaptation. There’s harried Matthew Pocket (Jonathan Newth) and his lazy, pretentious wife, Belinda (entertaining Angela Ellis),

Wopsle (John Quentin), the overly ambitious amateur actor,

“Trabb’s boy” (Mark Williams who’s good but I’d have preferred a younger actor in the role), the insolent tailor’s assistant who irritates Pip

and Orlick (Niven Boyd), the vengeful journeyman.

True, not all of these subplots are as well developed as in the book. I wish there were more audible heckling in the scenes of Wopsle’s bad performances to make them funnier and Orlick only shows interest in Biddy in one shot, making his later accusation that Pip “come twixt” the two of them rather inexplicable. Still, this is adaptation is an admirably complete take on the novel’s plot. In fact, it expands on the minor character of the useless young manservant who Pip hires for the sake of a genteel appearance and gives him a subplot to good effect. As played by Paul Reynolds, he resembles a young Uriah Heep and that’s no accident as this version has him conspire with his employer’s enemies.

Sadly, this adaptation does stumble a bit at the finish line. The way it handles a plot twist in the second-to-last scene^[9]You’ll know it when you see it. makes Dickens’s bittersweet ending, which leaned more into the sweet in the book, lean more into the bitter here. A botched ending can sometimes ruin a whole story, but the very last scene of the miniseries, taking place eleven years afterwards, manages to mollify me. The adaptation moves the location to the churchyard to bookend with the very first scene of the first episode. I’m theoretically against this change since the scene’s location in the source material is thematically significant. But I’ll allow it since it gives the miniseries the opportunity to put a hilariously ironic inscription on the tombstone of one of the villains. I’d like to think Dickens himself would have gotten a kick out of that addition to his story.

No, I’m not going to show you the inscription. Maybe I should though since exasperatingly this, my favorite adaptation of Great Expectations, is unavailable for streaming anywhere and has only ever been released on VHS and Region 2 DVDs, something not every DVD player will play! Oh, the injustice! Currently, the miniseries can be watched on YouTube though it could be taken down for violating copyright at any moment. Normally, I would advocate paying for it but since whoever owns the series isn’t really selling it, I advise everyone to enjoy it while they have the chance.