Great Expectations (TV Tie-In)

Great Expectations will form the centrepiece of the Dickens season this Christmas.

Part thriller, part mystery, with a powerful love story at its heart, Sarah Phelps's (Oliver Twist, EastEnders) three-part adaptation embraces all of these qualities, delivering a vibrant, visceral, story. The stellar cast includes Gillian Anderson, David Suchet and Ray Winstone, and it will be broadcast on BBC1 in a prime-time slot in December this year.

Charles Dickens was born on 7 February 1812. He enjoyed his first commercial success with The Pickwick Papers in 1836, swiftly followed by the serialization of Oliver Twist a year later. By the publication of The Old Curiosity Shop in 1841, Dickens was internationally famous. Great Expectations was first published in serial form in All the Year Round magazine between 1860 and 1861. His novels, many now adapted for TV and film, continue to entertain readers all over the world.