In the cozy world of Sunday night television, one nude bondage moment may have left you babbling about your Horlicks, especially while watching a Dickens adaptation.
That’s what greeted viewers of BBC1’s Great Expectations last night when a bare-bottomed Mr Pumblechook was spanked on a bed by Mrs Gargery, housewife-turned-dominatrix.
And the “gratuitous” scene was criticized by Dickens Fellowship, which said there is “no hint of sexual deviance” in the character.
Screenwriter Steven Knight of Peaky Blinders fame has enhanced the story in a nod to themes he feels the author hinted at but failed to explore in 19th-century Britain.
‘Come up now,’ invited Mrs Gargery, played by Hayley Squires, as she removed her wedding ring, grabbed a whip and asked: ‘Are you ready?’
Last night, housewife turned dominatrix Mrs. Gargery spanked Mr. Pumblechook bare-bottomed on a bed.
The ‘gratuitous’ scene was criticized by Dickens Fellowship, which said there is ‘no hint of sexual deviance’ in the character of Pumblechook (pictured)
‘You know what’s coming, don’t you? Turn around,” he said before proceeding to punch a naked Matt Berry, who plays Pumblechook, ten times as he was bent over his bed.
Explaining the decision to embellish the story, Knight said he tried to “imagine if Dickens was writing the story now and had the freedom to go to those darker places” and asked, “What would he do?”
But last night the Dickens Fellowship, a global association of people who share an interest in the life and work of the classic author, accused Knight of being “disingenuous.”
Honorary General Secretary Paul Graham claimed that Knight merely embellished the story to “generate an audience”, adding that Knight’s explanation was “slightly ridiculous”. He said: ‘How can he put himself in Dickens’s place and say what he would have done? I think the scenes would just look gratuitous. I don’t know if Dickens would have put in a whipping scene!…Pumblechook is essentially a comic character with no hint of sexual deviance…’
Last night’s episode also saw Miss Havisham grooming an adult Pip, played by Fionn Whitehead, to lose his virginity on his 18th birthday.
The jilted spinster, played by Olivia Colman, tells him, “On the occasion of your 18th birthday… you must master all things.” Horse riding, dancing, boxing and sex. She then introduces him to Mrs. Gibbons, from the local congregation, and tells her, ‘Feel free to behave however you want with Mrs. Gibbons… have fun.’
Knight has also added ‘opium addict’ to the Miss Havisham repertoire, with the character frequently seen puffing from a pipe.
Graham said that “there is no evidence in the text itself that she smoked opium”, adding that laudanum would have been a more likely addiction for her class at the time.
Great Expectations follows orphaned Pip (played by Fionn Whitehead, right), who is the companion of Miss Havisham and her adopted daughter, Estella (played by Shalom Brune-Franklin, left).
“To make her an opium addict is to go a step further than I needed to if I wanted to show that she was addicted to something,” he said. Dickens could have included that, but he didn’t. Clearly this is a radical interpretation.’
Knight, who previously adapted A Christmas Carol for the BBC, has expressed interest in tackling A Tale of Two Cities next. But Mr. Graham criticized: ‘Leave it [Dickens] only! It’s doing the whole canon… if you try to play with the classics, you’ll be very lucky if you improve it.’
Great Expectations, written in 1860, follows orphaned Pip, who is taken on as a companion to Miss Havisham and her foster daughter Estella (played by Shalom Brune-Franklin) before moving to London after receiving money from a mysterious benefactor.
Knight’s account has also drawn anger for its profanity and references to British Empire slave trade connections.
Mr Graham said: “If people are entertained by it, that’s fair, but it’s a distorted version of what Dickens wrote.”
Last week’s first episode received just one star from the Mail, with Christopher Stevens saying that the classic story “has been mixed with Woke Profanations.”
Great Expectations continues next Sunday at 9:00 p.m.