The Graham Norton Show Se 10 Christmas Special
December 23, 2011

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

Great Expectations: Miss Havisham given 'youthful' air
By Michael Osborn
BBC News
December 23, 2011

Tortured, ghostly, eternal bride-to-be Miss Havisham is returning in a fresh screen adaptation of Charles Dickens' literary classic Great Expectations. The wealthy heiress, who was jilted on her wedding day and lived as a recluse for decades afterwards, haunts her tumbledown mansion clad in a dusty matrimonial gown.

Miss Havisham - with her white matted hair and wedding feast table preserved in cobwebs - has been played by older actresses in previous major incarnations. But for the new take on Great Expectations she is portrayed by Gillian Anderson, who at 43 is the youngest screen star to play the woman who casts a huge shadow over the life of Pip, hero of the tale.

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Actress Gillian Anderson talks about love, the loss of a sibling and the challenge of playing Miss Havisham.
By Bryony Gordon
Telegraph, UK
December 26, 2011

She enjoyed playing Miss Havisham more than Lady Dedlock �because she�s slightly mischievous and naughty and her dialogue is more poetic. And also, Miss Havisham seems a lot more eccentric.� We talk a bit about Dickens � she says she isn�t more of a fan of him than, say, Emily Bront� or Edith Wharton � and her love of London.

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Miss Havisham Interrogates Pip

Pip Returns to Satis House

BBC News: BBC Christmas drama

Christmas Special
Series 10
Duration: 1 hour

Graham Norton welcomes a glittering guest list to the Christmas special edition of the show: the Time Lord himself, Matt Smith, looking forward to the Doctor Who Christmas special; actress Gillian Anderson, who stars in the new adaptation of Great Expectations; top comic Russell Kane; Dragon lady Hilary Devey; the two number one reality stars on television, Harry Judd, winner of Strictly Come Dancing and Dougie Pointer, King of the Jungle from I'm A Celebrity. Plus there's a performance of the song everyone expects to be the Christmas number one: Wherever You Are sung by the Military Wives Choir, lead by choirmaster Gareth Malone.

Friday 22:35
BBC One

BBC America on Dec. 24 & 25

PREVIEW

The Saturday interview: Gillian Anderson
By Stuart Jeffries
The Guardian
December 16, 2011

'You've changed," I tell Gillian Anderson. In 1996, she was chosen as the world's sexiest woman by FHM magazine's readers; this Christmas she will be bald and on fire as Miss Havisham in the BBC's adaptation of Great Expectations. So what made her take this role? Anderson bristles: "That's not really a serious question, is it? The real question is, 'How the *bleep* did I end up as the world's sexiest woman in 1996?' � not why would I do Great Expectations. Any actor would want to do Great Expectations. I never set out to be the world's sexiest woman."

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NOTE: In the third to last paragraph, he mentions her *son* Piper. As you all know, Piper is Gillian's beloved DAUGHTER.

Gillian Anderson gets under the skin of Miss Havisham in a new BBC One adaptation of Great Expectations
Northampton Chronicle & Echo
December 16, 2011

�Miss Havisham is disintegrating,� says Anderson, who manages to look striking under all the make-up.

�I kept thinking, �What if she, like the house, starts to have mould growing on her?� She hasn�t bathed for 18 years so I kept having images of that type of fungus which has frilly ends and I thought if we had that growing up my neck it could look amazing.

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Death becomes Gillian Anderson in BBC's Great Expectations
The Herald, Scotland
December 16, 2011

NOTE: If you haven't read the book or seen earlier film/tv versions, this article contains a major spoiler.

"...the casting of me as opposed to somebody in their seventies was an intention of the producers and the writer Sarah Phelps not to write her as old as she's been written before. That was also how I heard her in my mind as I was reading the script."

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Photos of Gillian at the 'Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol' premiere at BFI IMAX on December 13, 2011 in London, England.

She wore Ossie Clark from William Vintage and black diamonds from Adler.

Hair styled by Bryony Blake.

Afghanistan: A Window on the Tragedy by Alen Silva.

"A heartbreaking book of facts and photographs about the tragedy that is Afghanistan." -- Gillian

Ninety-eight black and white photos, steeped in the pathos and predicament of the Afghan people, accompanied by soul-searching commentary and poetry from thirteen distinguished contributors.

Basque-born photographer Alen Silva travelled twice across war-torn Afghanistan, to places few foreigners dare to venture, to bring us these soul-searing photographs of a devastated land. Among the ruins of Kabul, of the Bamiyan Buddhas, of Soviet tanks, of Afghan society -- the hope for peace still lights the weary faces of the Afghan people who welcomed him.

Texts by Alen Silva, Alan Rachins, Bahman Ghobadi, Bernardo Atxaga, Ezzat Goushegir, Gillian Anderson, John Sistiaga, Malalai Joya, Michael Ratner, Mike Farrell, Suheir Hammad, Susan Kelly-DeWitt, Toti Martinez de Lezea, and Yasmina Khadra.

TV Choice Magazine, UK
By Mary Comerford

After her BAFTA-nominated performance as Lady Dedlock in the BBC�s Bleak House, Hollywood star Gillian Anderson returns to Dickens as Miss Havisham in Great Expectations on BBC1. (Last July) TV Choice caught up with her on location...

Miss Havisham is such an iconic role � did you always want to play her?

As much as I�m familiar with the book it�s not in my mind as one of my favourites as it is for a lot of people. But this was a time when I was as excited by the adaptation, if not more so, than the book. I felt I might have a way in to the character and I fell in love with the script. Miss Havisham had a real historical impact.

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Great Expectations Trailer - BBC One

Great Expectations 2011 Christmas Special � Interview with Ray Winstone & Gillian Anderson
Anglotopia.net
December 2, 2011

Gillian explains why the role of Miss Havisham was one she could not resist.

�Miss Havisham is an iconic character that kind of pervades our world in various forms. I was kind of interested in what it was that was so appealing about her, why she seems to get under people�s skin, a woman who is deeply, almost psychotically manipulative and potentially really psychologically damaging to the two children that we see her have this direct impact on, and so there was a curiosity there for me.

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Package of 7 Signed Gillian Anderson Photos

Other items on auction to benefit Artists for a New South Africa (ANSA).