Great Expectations
Great Expectations was a novel written by Charles Dickens. (TV: The Unquiet Dead) It was described as "haunting", depicting the personal development of an orphan named Pip as he discovered the true nature of his 'great expectations'. By the 21st century it was considered a literary classic. (TV: The Empty Planet)
Plot
It was now too late and too far to go back, and I went on. And the mists had all solemnly risen now, and the world lay spread before me.
The novel followed the story of an orphan called Pip who, following an encounter with an escaped convict in a graveyard on the Kent marshes, was summoned to meet Miss Havisham and her ward Estella. He abandoned his humble origins to begin a new life as a gentleman, changing his life forever. (TV: The Empty Planet)
References
The Ninth Doctor referred to this novel, among other stories by Charles Dickens, when encountering the author on Christmas Eve 1869. (TV: The Unquiet Dead)
While visiting the Reform Club in 1866, the Eighth Doctor got into an argument with Dickens about an error in Great Expectations. (AUDIO: The Man Who Wasn't There)
In 1884, Captain Kybo read Great Expectations to help him learn English. (AUDIO: Judoon in Chains)
In 2010, Rani Chandra and Clyde Langer had to read the book for school. Typically, Rani took the assignment far more seriously than Clyde. He claimed that all one needed to do to understand the novel sufficiently for the purposes of school was to "read the beginning, the end and page 73". (TV: The Empty Planet)
In 2016, the assortment of objects in the conservatory of the old stone house reminded Tanya Adeola of a scene from the novel adapted to a scenario when Miss Havisham were a keen gardener. (PROSE: The Stone House)
