Nick Knowles had some harsh words for the explicit spanking sequence in BBC’s Great Expectations.
The newest installment of the TV adaptation, according to the 60-year-old TV figure, was ‘unnecessarily salacious’ after Mrs Gargery (Hayley Squires) smacked Mr Pumblechook (Matt Berry) on the buttocks.
‘Are you ready?’ she asked, getting out her whip.
‘You know what’s coming don’t you? Turn around.’
She then struck the bare-bottomed performer not once, but ten times!
The DIY SOS frontman didn’t really appreciate the startling scene and questioned ‘why do we have to sex up all period dramas now?’
‘Can anyone explain to me why BBC production of Great Expectations has recast uncle Pumblechook as a masochist & Mrs Joe as a dominatrix running a torture service?’ he fumed.
‘Beautifully shot & directed drama but it’s like the writers of TOWIE version of Dickens Feels unnecessarily salacious.’
In a separate tweet, he continued: ‘I loved Taboo and Peaky Blinders so I’m baffled why Great Expectations is such salacious tripe. Why do we have to sex up all period dramas now? I’m watching it into episode 2 like a slow moving car crash.’
Ouch!
Miss Havisham (Olivia Colman) also fixed up a grown-up Pip (Fionn Whitehead) to loose his virginity on his 18th birthday in Sunday night’s show.
While some claimed that sexing up Dickens’ classic had ‘ruined’ it, others supported the alterations.
‘I like the new BBC #GreatExpectations & what it adds to this great novel. There’s a much more adult backbone with sex, whipping, opium addiction. There are so many adaptations – this feels new. I also like the soundscape. So some will dislike it but you don’t have to watch!’, one viewer reasoned.
Peaky Blinders screenwriter Steven Knight previously stated that his adaptation is simply investigating what he thinks the author alluded at but couldn’t talk openly in the nineteenth century.
Knight said he imagined what Dickens would do if he was ‘writing the story now and had the freedom to go to those darker places’.
Great Expectations continues Sunday on BBC One.
Source My Celebrity Life.