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Steven Knight to adapt Great Expectations

Peaky Blinders writer to adapt Dickens' classic for FX and BBC.

Screenwriter Steven Knight (Peaky Blinders, Taboo, A Christmas Carol) will adapt Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations into a miniseries which will screen in Australia on Foxtel.

The six part drama is a co-production between FX and BBC, from producers Knight, Ridley Scott, Tom Hardy and more.

Steven Knight said, “Adapting Dickens’ work is a delight. I chose Great Expectations as the next work to bring to the screen not just because of the timeless characters, but also because of the very timely story. A story of class mobility and class intransigence, told through an intensely emotional and personal first person narrative. As the son of a Blacksmith myself, Pip’s journey from the forge into society is a very special one to me.”

Eric Schrier, President, FX Entertainment, added, “FX is honored to begin the next chapter of collaboration with Steven Knight, Ridley Scott, Tom Hardy and their teams as they reunite for this modern adaption of Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations. Their inaugural Dickens adaptation, A Christmas Carol, was a great success both creatively and commercially. We want to thank our partners at the BBC, Scott Free and Hardy Son & Baker for their support and can’t wait to get to work on this project.”

Charlotte Moore, Director of BBC Content says: “Great Expectations is the second in Steven Knight’s series of Dickens adaptations and the perfect choice given its timely and personal narrative. His original take on one of Britain’s most loved classics will make it must see drama for a whole new generation.”

Great Expectations was previously a BBC miniseries in 2012 with Douglas Booth, Jack Roth, Gillian Anderson and Ray Winstone.

Dates for the new version are yet to be announced.

Great Expectations is the coming-of-age story of an orphan nicknamed Pip. Dickens first released it in a series of weekly chapters beginning in December 1860 before it was subsequently published as a novel.

Knight will write and executive produce Great Expectations, which will also be executive produced by Tom Hardy, Ridley Scott, Dean Baker, David W. Zucker, Kate Crowe and Mona Qureshi for the BBC – the team behind A Christmas Carol – and Marina Brackenbury serves as Co-Executive Producer. Great Expectations will be produced by FX Productions in association with the BBC, Scott Free and Hardy Son & Baker.

Great Expectations and A Christmas Carol are the first two in a series of adaptations of Dickens’ novels commissioned by FX and the BBC. FX and the BBC also produced the acclaimed drama series Taboo, starring Tom Hardy, written by Steven Knight and produced by Knight, Hardy, Chips Hardy, Ridley Scott, Dean Baker and Kate Crowe.

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