Episode #1.2 (28 Dec. 2011)

In London Pip rooms with the unaffected Herbert Pocket,a relative of Miss Havisham,cut off by his family for wanting to marry the poorly situated Clara Barley and whom Pip helps get work. ... See full summary »

Director:

Brian Kirk

Writers:

Sarah Phelps (screenplay), Charles Dickens (novel)

Stars:

Douglas Booth, Michael Colgan, David Suchet

Cast

Episode cast overview, first billed only:
Douglas Booth	...	Pip
Michael Colgan	...	Anxious Man
David Suchet	...	Jaggers
Steve Lately	...	Mike
Paul Ritter	...	Wemmick
Harry Lloyd	...	Herbert Pocket
Paul Rhys	...	Compeyson
Shaun Dooley	...	Joe Gargery
Perdita Weeks	...	Clara
Susan Lynch	...	Molly
Tom Burke	...	Bentley Drummle
Jack Roth	...	Dolge Orlick
Gillian Anderson	...	Miss Havisham
Vanessa Kirby	...	Estella
Frances Barber	...	Mrs. Brandley

Storyline

In London Pip rooms with the unaffected Herbert Pocket,a relative of Miss Havisham,cut off by his family for wanting to marry the poorly situated Clara Barley and whom Pip helps get work. In other respects,as he fritters away the allowance paid him by Jaggers,his guardian,he becomes a snob,uneasy when Joe visits. He is still in love with Estella,as is the egocentric toff Bentley Drummle,but Estella tells Pip she is incapable of love as Miss Havisham taught her to be hard-hearted and Pip is a witness when Estella accuses her adoptive mother of this. Returning from Kent for Mrs Joe's funeral Pip is on the eve of his twenty-first birthday when he will receive his full inheritance when he has a visitor,Abel Magwitch,the convict he once tried to help. To Pip's horror Magwitch tells him that he is his benefactor and not,as Pip had supposed, Miss Havisham.

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Release Date:

28 December 2011 (UK)

Company Credits

User Reviews

This is the weak episode of the three

As IMDb doesn't seem to be allowing comments on the serial as a whole, I'm doing them episode by episode.

This one is by far the weakest. The biggest failing is that Douglas Booth is a pretty useless Pip. Booth is a fashion model and his perfectly made up doll-like face makes him look as if he is on a photo shoot for most of the time. His main expression, which rarely changes, is a slight pout. A country lad from the forge trying to become a convincing gentleman? Sorry, but no. Incidentally, he looks absolutely nothing like Oscar Kennedy who played young Pip so expressively in episode 1. Others have noticed that he is supposed to be plain and Estella beautiful - it's the wrong way round here. His voice is wrong, too. He too quickly masters an actorish type of standard pronunciation, which is unfortunately much too modern in style and includes the dreaded glottal stop in places (e.g. bu' for but).

Another big failing is that the script writer (why do they do this?) decided to sex the story up by including a sleazy brothel scene.

On the positive side, smiley Harry Lloyd is excellent as Herbert Pocket.

Things pick up in episode 3.