His adaptation of A Christmas Carol portrayed Ebenezer Scrooge as a molested schoolboy who grew up to force Tiny Tim’s mother into prostitution. So perhaps it’s no surprise that Steven Knight’s BBC1 version of Great Expectations turns Miss Havisham, played by Olivia Colman, into an opium addict and shows an ecstatic Mr Pumblechook being spanked in a dingy bedroom. He has also included references to the British Empire’s connections to the slave trade, with several characters hammering home an anti-colonial message.
