Great Expectations Episode 1 (BBC One Sunday 26 March 2023)

Today Sunday 26 March 2023, there is a new episode of Great Expectations.

Episode 1 Pip, the brightest pupil in his class, has been an orphan for as long as he can remember, and he has always wished for a better life. His parents and smaller siblings are gone, and he now lives with Joe, a compassionate blacksmith who is married to Pip’s fierce older sister, Sara. They have made their home at Gravesend, a town on the banks of the Thames River that is surrounded by murky marshes. When Pip isn’t working with Joe at the forge, he enjoys sitting in his room and gazing out the window at the ships plying the Thames on their way to a life he can only imagine.

On Christmas Eve, Pip sneaks out to visit his parents’ grave and is confronted by Magwitch, an escaped convict. Magwitch, whose archenemy Compeyson set fire to the prison ship Redemption, has escaped and is on his way to Australia. Neither man can expect to travel very far while bound in leg irons and left to shiver in the frozen marshes. Magwitch has resolved to take his revenge by killing Compeyson, and he has coerced Pip into coming to his aid.

Mr. Pumblechook, one of Joe’s Christmas lunch guests, has some news about Pip to share. He has learnt that Estella, the adopted daughter of the eccentric and extremely wealthy Miss Havisham, is in need of a companion. Pip is the smartest kid in school, and since he and Estella are the same age, he’s being floated as a potential suitor. Joe insists he won’t give Pip up to Miss Havisham since he’ll need the boy in the forge shortly. Joe, however, is oblivious to the fact that Pip would do anything other than be a blacksmith if given the chance.

Airdate: Sunday 26 March 2023 at 21:00 on BBC One

Season 1 Episode 1

Great Expectations is the coming-of-age story of Pip, an orphan who yearns for a greater lot in life until a twist of fate introduces him to the mysterious and eccentric Miss Havisham and Estella, showing him a dark world of possibilities. Under the great expectations placed upon him, Pip will have to work out the cost of this new world and whether it will truly make him the man he wishes to be.

Featured image credit: BBC One