PBS gave details of their spring line-up last week and in addition to Downton Abbey (premiering January) and Sherlock (premiering May) we now also have two more great mini-series to look forward to, when they announced that their co-productions with the BBC, Great Expectations and The Mystery of Edwin Drood will premiere next April.
In the official press release PBS stated that their Masterpiece series will celebrate Charles Dickens with the Masterpiece / PBS co-production of the two-part “Great Expectations,” on Sundays, April 1 and 8 at 9:00 p.m., and their production of the Dickens classic “The Mystery of Edwin Drood,” will air Sunday, April 15 at 9:00 p.m.
Widely considered one of Dickens’ greatest novels, Great Expectations tells the story of Pip the battered orphan boy, who rises from blacksmith’s apprentice to gentleman under the patronage of a mysterious benefactor, who assures him of “great expectations.” As Pip grows up, he befriends Magwitch, a convict, becomes the pet to Miss Havisham, an insane heiress, and falls in love with Estella, her cold-hearted ward. A series of shocking setbacks teaches Pip the true source of moral worth.
We have been keeping you up to date with the latest adaptation of Great Expectations as it has such an all star cast lined up. David Suchet (Poirot), who will play Jaggers, Ray Winstone takes the role of Magwitch, Gillian Anderson (The X-Files) takes the role of Miss Havisham and Douglas Booth (Worried About The Boy, Christopher And His Kind) as Pip. You can see first images of all the cast members below.
The Mystery Of Edwin Drood is an adaptation and completion of Charles Dickens’ last novel, Edwin Drood, left unfinished at the halfway mark at his death on 9 June 1870. It tells the story John Jasper, a troubled man, his psyche split between darkness and light. He has spent his life in the stifling and claustrophobic cathedral town of Cloisterham in a state of frustrated ambition and has become addicted to opium in an attempt to still his ennui and expand his horizons. But the opium is fracturing Jasper’s mind so that even as his soul reaches for the sublime in his music, his darker self has conceived a murderous hatred of his nephew Edwin Drood who, he believes, stands between him and the lovely Rosa. The stage is set for a story of mental and moral decline as we discover exactly how far Jasper will go to attain the object of his desire.
As with Great Expectations another all-star cast is lined up for this one with Matthew Rhys (Brothers & Sisters) as John Jasper, Rory Kinnear (Hamlet, Women In Love, Lennon Naked) as Reverend Septimus Crisparkle, Freddie Fox (Worried About The Boy, The Shadow Line) as Edwin Drood, and Tamzin Merchant (Jane Eyre, Miranda, The Tudors) will play Rosa Bud.
Take a look at the first images from the BBC Christmas centerpiece, Great Expectations below, it is going to be interesting to compare the two adaptations of this novel that are arriving over the next year with Mike Newell’s big screen adaption of the Dickens classic also set to arrive in 2012.
Image Source: Daily Mail
