DVD review: Great Expectations

Unlike the recent, more daring deconstructions of Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights, Mike Newell's Great Expectations is close to being a scene-by-scene translation of the novel.

For a while, it's a joy to see so many of Dickens's characters brought to vivid, richly coloured life. But towards the end, when Newell squeezes in a new twist, revelation or flashback every 30 seconds, you might as well be reading a synopsis.