Entertainment

‘Great’ stuff

When introducing Part One of the two- part, “Great Expectations” — airing tomorrow and next Sunday night — host Laura Linney talks about how Charles Dickens created works that are as compelling today as they were when first written over 150 years ago.

And it’s true. Dickens never gets old or tired or irrelevant.

That will ring true once again tomorrow night.

Yes, we all read “Great Expectations” in school, and yes, we’ve all seen at least one or two of the dozens of film adaptations.

Even so, nothing quite prepared me for this BBC/Masterpiece co-production starring newcomer Douglas Booth as Pip, and favorites Gillian Anderson (“The X-Files”) as Miss Havisham, the astounding David Suchet (“Poirot”) as lawyer Jaggers and Ray Winstone as the fugitive felon, Abel Magwitch.

Since you will get two nights to savor Dickens’ multi-layered, complex tale, you will see things here that you either forgot when reading the original, or have never seen (if you’ve only seen the filmed versions).

It is, of course, the story of young Pip, an orphaned child living with his hideous, angry, mean sister, and her loving, kindly husband, blacksmith Joe, (Shaun Dooley).

The tale begins when Pip is accosted as a small boy by a crazed and bleeding convict (Magwitch), who forces him to steal a file in order to cut away his shackles. Fearing for his family, Pip does as ordered, but the police catch Magwitch after he fights another fugitive nearly to the death.

Shortly thereafter, a summons comes out of the blue, and Pip is called to visit the local, rich and very crazy recluse, Miss Havisham, who lives with her adopted daughter, the beautiful Estella (Vanessa Kirby) on a nearby estate.

Miss Havisham, who was jilted on her wedding day by a fortune-hunting con man years earlier, is so broken by it that she went quite mad and has never taken off her wedding gown. She still lives in her giant mansion surrounded by the decay of the fossilized wedding feast that never happened.

Fast forward perhaps 10 years and hard-working Pip, who is apprenticing to his brother-in-law with money from Havisham, is called again. This time, an anonymous benefactor has bequeathed to Pip a new life in London.

There he will be trained as a gentleman and when he comes of age, an entire fortune will be turned over to him and only then will he learn the name of his benefactor.

Both nights will have you on the edge of your seat. The acting, sets, art direction and overall brilliance of the entire event is not to be missed.