Olivia Colman

The actress, starring in a new BBC adaptation of Great Expectations, on why she thinks it's relevant to modern Britain.

Although the book was "written over 100 years ago" she says "in the UK and in many other places, it depends where a baby is born as to potentially where they will end up. "I really did struggle with the idea of being compared with my mates," she says. It's just not fair." "I did want to play [Miss Havisham] so I thought, 'well, it's what happens with all actors. I can feel it now". "It's terrible what happens to Miss Havisham," the Oscar-winning actress says of her character in the new BBC adaptation of Great Expectations.

The Oscar-winning actor plays Miss Havisham in the forthcoming BBC adaptation of Charles Dickens' timeless novel. Miss Havisham, the bitter, reclusive old ...

“It’s terrible what happens to Miss Havisham,” she said. “Inthe UK and in many other places, it depends where a baby is born as to potentially where they will end up. It’s just not fair.” You all end up playing the same parts sometimes, and that’s okay.’ Colman also described the source material as “extraordinarily relevant” and “really poignant” thanks to its takes on class and wealth in British society. “I really did struggle with the idea of being compared with my mates,” she said.

Yes, Charles Dickens wrote with delicate language, but much of his work exposes the harsh realities of poverty, crime, and class divides. Writer-producer Steven ...

Colman in particular is the walking embodiment of a specter trapped in time, draped in her billowing wedding dress, weighed down by layers of pearls around her neck, pale and ghoulish in the face. Despite some awkwardly forced optimism in the conclusion, the series succeeds as a work of suspense. He’s the devil to whom Pip has sold his soul in an effort to win Estella’s heart, and he acts like it. Knight, who also wrote and produced a gothic version of A Christmas Carol in 2019, removes the rose-colored glasses. As he well knew, the Victorian Era was not a glamorous time for most, and those in the working class regularly witnessed death and devastation. Though it might be tempting to call FX’s new Great Expectations series a dark and gritty “reimagining” of the classic novel, that wouldn’t quite be accurate.

It's no surprise that Steven Knight's BBC1 version of Great Expectations turns Miss Havisham, played by Olivia Colman, into an opium addict.

Teaching him how to be a gentleman but sort of mocking him. 'I have had a lovely time, and I sort of forget I’m not the same age as them. Steven Knight has written and executive produced Great Expectations alongside Tom Hardy, Ridley Scott, Dean Baker, David W. We think she went white with the shock and the heartbreak. We have gone for long white hair and lots of broken veins. Magwitch says the Empire was built on the lies of privileged white men. The bitter Miss Havisham engineers a meeting between the young Pip and Estella with a view to having him fall in love with her so she can break his heart. ‘What I tried to do was imagine if Dickens was writing the story now and had the freedom to go to those darker places, what would he do? There were quite a few changes and I found it quite gripping.’ ‘He was never banging the drum, he was just saying, “This is what’s going on” and people could draw their own conclusions. She can then, bit by bit, payback men' Quite a few bottom-slapping moments, which I did not recall from the original Dickens!

he thing about Dickens is that he isn't short on characters, plot, dramatic tension or human interest. You may find the characters overblown – though that ...

She is brilliantly unsettling as the smiling manipulator of Pip – a creditable performance by Fionn Whitehead – but is it necessary to make this memorable character the 19th century version of a crackhead… And just what was it about the critical reception of that which made the Corporation’s drama department think he was just the man to let loose on Great Expectations? One of the funniest and most painful episodes in Pip’s becoming a gentleman is when he goes to a tailors to be kitted out in a gentleman’s suit. This uproarious character is nowhere to be seen in this version, presumably because he is too large, comic and uncomfortable to be accommodated by a script which is flat-footed about class. And this version is so wholly and painfully different from the original as to warrant a warning to the viewer. It’s not so much a dramatisation of Great Expectation, as a hollowing out of it in order to accommodate a very different story and almost unrecognisable characters.

Steven Knight added the "saucy lines" to the Great Expectations scripts because he knew the actress would would be able to "pull them off".

For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to [The Radio Times Podcast](https://www.radiotimes.com/audio/podcasts/). However, both were quick to praise the series and its fans, with Rundle saying: "I'm so, so proud of being a part of that show. [Drama](https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/drama/) coverage or visit our [TV Guide](https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/tv-listings/) and [Streaming Guide](https://www.radiotimes.com/streaming-guide/) to find out what's on. But when I knew it was Olivia obviously then you go back and start to enjoy yourself because you can start adding [a] bit more of what Olivia brings. [a second season of SAS Rogue Heroes](https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/drama/sas-rogue-heroes-rewened-season-2-newsupdate/), [a second season of Taboo](https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/drama/taboo-season-2-production-2023-newsupdate/), and new series [This Town](https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/drama/this-town-steven-knight-cast-peaky-blinders-newsupdate/) and [A Thousand Blows](https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/drama/stephen-graham-a-thousand-blows-newsupdate/). And she does." [Sophie Rundle](https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/drama/peaky-blinders-sophie-rundle-movie-exclusive-newsupdate/) and [Daryl McCormack](https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/drama/peaky-blinders-movie-daryl-mccormack-exclusive-newsupdate/) have said they are yet to hear anything about. [terms and conditions](https://www.immediate.co.uk/terms-and-conditions/) and [privacy policy](https://policies.immediate.co.uk/privacy/). [BBC's 'successor to Peaky Blinders', Dope Girls, in the works](https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/drama/dope-girls-peaky-blinders-successor-newsupdate/) [The Rings of Power adds Black Mirror and Motherland stars to cast](https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/fantasy/rings-of-power-hinds-kinnear-moodie-newsupdate/) There’s a couple of things we changed once we knew she would be in the role – a couple of what you’d call saucy lines where you know she’s going to pull it off in a way that it’s going to be just right. [Peaky Blinders](https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/drama/peaky-blinders-season-7-release-cancelled-newsupdate/) and [SAS Rogue Heroes](https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/drama/sas-rogue-heroes-season-2/) amongst other series, was also enthused by this casting, as it led him to go back to the scripting stage and add in what he has called "saucy lines". [Great Expectations](https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/drama/great-expectations-bbc-release-date/) arrives with some pretty lofty expectations of its own, not least because it stars [Olivia Colman in the role of Miss Havisham](https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/drama/great-expectations-images-olivia-colman-newsupdate/).

The Oscar-winning actor plays Miss Havisham in the forthcoming BBC adaptation of Charles Dickens' timeless novel. Miss Havisham, the bitter, reclusive old ...

Peaky Blinders writer Steven Knight was also inspired by this casting, as it motivated him to go back to the scripting stage and add in "saucy lines". Knight ...

And she does." But when I knew it was Olivia obviously then you go back and start to enjoy yourself because you can start adding [a] bit more of what Olivia brings. There’s a couple of things we changed once we knew she would be in the role – a couple of what you’d call saucy lines where you know she’s going to pull it off in a way that it’s going to be just right.

'Peaky Blinders' creator Steven Knight's take on the Charles Dickens classic premieres on the BBC this weekend, following adaptations by Alfonso Cuarón and ...

They’re aware of the status of the book, “an almost perfect novel, in part like a ballad, drawn out of early memories and dreams, full of monsters, terrors and puzzles to be solved,” as Dickens’ biographer Claire Tomalin called it. I think this novel – in a funny sort of way – is Dickens tiptoeing into this great unknown.” Newell’s version was released to tie in with the bicentenary of Dickens’ birth, but it didn’t add much which hadn’t been explored in previous films. “Film is very good at conveying considerable information and detail in a short space,” he is quoted as saying in Gene D Phillips’ biography of the director. This was a literary adaptation that managed the rare feat of pleasing the critics and making plenty of money at the box office. “This is Dickens’s Jekyll and Hyde,” Mike Newell told Sight & Sound of his 2012 adaptation of the novel. The novel has been adapted many times both for the big screen and for television. Cuarón even described it as “the perfect version” of the novel. As the son of a blacksmith myself, Pip’s journey from the forge into society is a very special one to me.” Through production design and clever cutting, Lean conveyed more ideas and plot elements in a few frames of film than took the writer paragraphs and even pages to describe. Pip describes the cobwebs in fetishistic detail, as well as the “speckle-legged spiders with blotchy bodies” that emerge out of crannies; the mice “rattling behind the panels” and the black beetles which also crawl around the place. He’s explained that he chose to adapt Great Expectations “not just because of the timeless characters, but also because of the very timely story,” adding: “A story of class mobility and class intransigence, told through an intensely emotional and personal first-person narrative. The New York Times called his approach “bold and vulgar” and suggested his version of the story was “one Charles Dickens would barely recognise”.

'Great Expectations' star Olivia Colman and director Steven Knight have discussed the "gripping" new series that adapts Charles Dickens' novel of the same ...

What I tried to do was imagine if Dickens was writing the story now and had the freedom to go to those darker places, what would he do? There were quite a few changes and I found it quite gripping.” What I didn’t want to do – and I think Dickens never tried to do – was make something specifically political”.

Screen Rant presents an exclusive clip from Joyride, a heartwarming new road trip comedy starring Olivia Colman and Charlie Reid, which is now out.

They'll form an unexpected connection at one of the darkest times of their lives, and find a friendship that just might lead them into the light. The trailer for Joyride gives greater insight into the budding friendship between Mully and Joy. When his father enlists Mully in a plan to steal charity money raised in his mother's name, Mully makes a run for it. During their ride, Mully and Joy will find a friendship and love in each other that they didn't know they needed. The film stars Olivia Colman (The Favourite) and newcomer Charlie Reid on a road trip against an idyllic background in the Irish countryside. As he drives away, he's surprised to learn he's not alone in the vehicle, and a woman and her baby are sitting in the backseat.

“Fleeing from his father, 12-year-old Mully (Charlie Reid, The Bird Game) steals a taxi and is shocked to find a stranger (Olivia Colman, The Favourite, The ...

“Fleeing from his father, 12-year-old Mully (Charlie Reid, The Bird Game) steals a taxi and is shocked to find a stranger (Olivia Colman, The Favourite, The Crown) in the back seat with a baby,” reads the film’s synopsis. It stars Olivia Colman, Charlie Reid, Lochlann O’Mearáin, and Elaine Kennedy. “Joy has decided to give her child away to a friend, and Mully is on the run from his debt-ridden dad.

Olivia Colman has claimed that she almost turned down starring in Great Expectations due to her friendships with Gillian Anderson and Helena Bonham Carter.