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Thirty years ago, in 1993, Edward W. Said wrote one of his most influential books, _Culture & Imperialism_. It was published fifteen years after _Orientalism_, which dramatically changed

the way a new generation of literary critics thought about “the general relationship between culture and empire.” _Culture & Imperialism_ broadened Said’s thesis from the Middle East to

Africa, India, parts of the Far East, Australia and the Caribbean. Said writes, “we can no longer ignore empires and the imperial context in our studies.” He focuses, in particular, on

Conrad, _Aida_, Yeats and Jane Austen’s _Mansfield Park_, in which “references to Sir Thomas Bertram’s overseas possessions are threaded through” and there are passing references to the

relationship between Rochester and Bertha Mason in _Jane Eyre_. One of the books that plays a small but significant part in Said’s book was Dickens’s _Great Expectations_, particularly the

relationship between Pip and Magwitch, who after being sent as a convict to Australia, rewards Pip for his act of kindness with large sums of money which allow him to live the life of a

young gentleman in London. Said’s readings of _Mansfield Park _and _Great Expectations_, though brief, have influenced the ways in which a younger generation now think about Austen and

Dickens. Indeed, Said’s ideas seem to me to have influenced the latest BBC dramatisation of one of Dickens’s most popular novels. Perhaps this was because Steven Knight, its screenwriter and

executive producer, was studying English at UCL just when _Orientalism _was published and Said’s impact was nearing its height. _ _ _Great Expectations _has been adapted many times, nine

times in films and on TV. The most famous film adaption was directed by David Lean in 1946, starring John Mills as Pip, Alec Guinness as Herbert Pocket and Finlay Currie as Magwitch and Jean

Simmons as the young Estella. It won two Academy Awards and was shortlisted for three more, including Best Director and Best Picture. Since then the parts of Miss Havisham and Magwitch have

drawn the big names. Robert De Niro, Anthony Hopkins and Ralph Fiennes have all played Magwitch, and Helena Bonham Carter, Charlotte Rampling and Gillian Anderson (best of all, in my view)

have played Miss Havisham. Anderson starred in the most recent BBC adaptation (cut down to three episodes) in 2011. Now Steven Knight, best known for _Peaky Blinders _(2013-22), has returned

to Dickens (he wrote and was executive producer of _A Christmas Carol _in 2019) with Olivia Colman as Miss Havisham in a BBC/FX six-part co-production. Reviewers have made obligatory

references to _Peaky Blinders,_ but curiously none have mentioned his best series, _Taboo _(2017, also a BBC/FX co-production) and also a historical drama set in Regency London. A key part

of the plot focuses on the evils of slavery and the East India Company, which should have prepared us for the attacks on British colonialism in Knight’s version of _Great Expectations_. The

BBC has hyped their latest Sunday night costume drama to the stars, but it is hard to know which has been worse, the critical reception or word of mouth. _The Guardian _called it “standard,

solid fare.” _The Independent _gave it two stars and called it “predictable and lazy,” demonstrating “an odd lack of imagination.” The_ Telegraph _damned the opening scene (made up) and most

of the rest: “Some S&M with a naked Mr Pumblechook (a miscast Matt Berry) being whipped by Mrs Gargery; Miss Havisham as an opium addict. There are rumours that Knight has messed with

the ending, for which we’ll have to wait and see. They are also saving any heavy-duty Empire-bashing for later episodes.” The best-written review is by Helen Hawkins at theartsdesk.com who

calls it “modernised, muddied and muddled.” “a lurid Victorian gothic, so _noir _at times that you have trouble trying to follow what’s happening, and to whom, especially at night. A handful

of the novel’s peripheral characters haven’t made the move to TV, which is standard practice in an adaptation of a chunky tome. But some significant plot points have gone missing, too.”

Rachel Cooke in the _New Statesman _is incisive and devastating: “The BBC’s new Great Expectations is so bad it should be illegal. Steven Knight’s crass, sexed-up version of the novel strips

it of all its humour and tenderness. Does he think he’s better than Dickens?” Melanie McDonagh in the _Spectator_ is just as harsh: “This is no adaption; it’s the violent hijack of plot,

title and characters to turn the externals of _Great Expectations_ into a vehicle for Stephen Knight’s obsessions about empire, colonialism, sex and class.” RogerEbert.com in the States also

gave it one star and then called it “a production so badly written and so tritely directed (and photographed and scored) that viewers will struggle to stay awake”. The author goes on, “You

know who knew how to effectively document the darkness and despair of 1860s London? _Charles Dickens_. And he didn’t need a dominatrix, orgies, or a literal shoot-out at a burning mansion to

do it.” What is curious is that neither reviewers nor critics on social media are much bothered by the mixed casting (black actors playing Jaggers and Estella and an Asian actor playing

Wemmick) or the attacks on 19th century British colonialism. Those battles seem to have been won (or lost, depending in your point of view) at least. For a generation to come, BBC

adaptations of 19th century novels will obsess about race and empire, not character and plot. But, far worse, they will be desperate to sex up the classics in a desperate bid to seem

relevant to younger viewers, who don’t watch BBC costume dramas anyway. In the meantime, there’s always David Lean’s brilliant adaptation to enjoy. It is not just superbly directed, but as

@SargeCraig667 has already pointed out on Twitter, “David Lean’s version was made within living memory of Dickens being alive (76 years). One of the cast (born 1870) was alive when Dickens

was alive.” It feels authentic in a way Steven Knight and today’s BBC executives could never understand. A MESSAGE FROM THEARTICLE _We are the only publication that’s committed to covering

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