Great Expectations

Many distinguished names who should have known better lend themselves to what looks like a TV musical version of Dickens' tale, minus the songs. This plodding, charmless adaptation is long on coincidences which become increasingly preposterous. Most notable, however, are the wigs: over a hundred, the press handout revealed. And you can spot every one of 'em. Poor old Joss Ackland's ruins an otherwise good performance (as Joe Gargery). And the same bowl of fruit rests on the sideboard...twenty years later.