This absorbing adaptation is a pleasure to watch. Inevitably some of the nuances of the novel, such as the turning of Pip from his roots, are made abrupt in this three hour adaptation. The acting is superb and not overly mannered. Ian McDiarmid makes a complex Jaggers, and Charlotte Rampling is ravishing and vulnerable as Miss Havisham. There are fine performances from familiar actors as Joe and as Abel as well. Ioan Gruffudd is a stunning Pip. An ideal romantic hero, as we have already seen in the Hornblower series, he is physically stunning and manages to act as well. (For my liking a bit more smoldering wouldn't go amiss.) I enjoyed his reading of Latin to Abel with a Welsh accent!
