´óÏó´«Ã½ announces Christmas Dickens drama
- Published
Great Expectations was last dramatised by the ´óÏó´«Ã½ in 1999
A "bold" new version of Charles Dickens' novel Great Expectations will be screened on ´óÏó´«Ã½ One at Christmas.
Sarah Phelps, who adapted Oliver Twist for the channel in 2007, will write the three-part series.
Previous ´óÏó´«Ã½ versions of Dickens' novel - one of the author's best-known works - were broadcast in 1959, 1967, 1981 and 1999.
The most recent starred Ioan Gruffudd as Pip and Charlotte Rampling as Miss Havisham.
A ´óÏó´«Ã½ spokeswoman said the new version would "give us the heart and guts of Dickens at his very best".
It is one of five new dramas newly appointed ´óÏó´«Ã½ One controller Danny Cohen has commissioned for 2011.
Jennifer Worth's best-selling memoir Call the Midwife is being adapted by Heidi Thomas, the writer of Cranford and the ´óÏó´«Ã½'s recent Upstairs, Downstairs remake.
Bound is a six-episode series about a group of women with husbands in prison, while Morton follows the exploits of a female spy.
Four-part drama One Night will tell the story of a different character each week.
Cohen said he hoped the commissions would "begin to express the range and creative ambition" of the channel's drama output.
The former head of digital channel ´óÏó´«Ã½ Three was named ´óÏó´«Ã½ One controller in October.
Next year marks the 200th anniversary of Charles Dickens' birth.
- Published15 October 2010