Gillian Anderson, best known for playing Agent Scully in The X Files, has been unveiled as the new face of Charles Dickens' tormented Miss Havisham, in the BBC's festive adaptation of Great Expectations.
The American actress looks every bit the jilted bride imagined in the Victorian classic, but her performance is sure to be measured against that of Helena Bonham Carter, who is playing the same character in a production to be released next year to coincide with Dickens' 200th anniversary.
The 43-year-old may be best known for her dealings with the supernatural, but she's also previously proven she can do period drama, having been nominated for BAFTA, Emmy and Golden Globe awards for her role as Lady Dedlock in the BBC adaptation of Bleak House in 2005.
The production also stars Ray Winstone as the dastardly Abel Magwitch, David Suchet as Miss Havisham's lawyer, Mr Jaggers, and Douglas Booth - known for playing Boy George in BBC2's Worried About The Boy - as an adult Pip.
Oscar Kennedy, who previously appeared as young Nigel Slater in last year's autobiographical drama Toast, plays young Pip, while young Estella is acted by Izzy Meikle-Small, famed for her turn as Kathy in the 2010 film Never Let Me Go, alongside Carey Mulligan.
The BBC One drama, due to be shown around Christmas, has been adapted by Sarah Phelps, who was also behind the channel's 2007 version of Oliver Twist.
Not only is it a festive treat but the three-episode adaptation is part of a season of documentary, drama and discussion programmes celebrating the work of Dickens on the BBC.
Other shows in include the completion of Dickens’ unfinished novel, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, by writer Gwyneth Hughes, and Life-long Dickens fan Armando Iannucci on the development of a revolutionary master story teller.
Commissioning Arts Editor for the BBC, Mark Bell, said: "What better to conclude the BBC's year-long celebration of books, than a season marking the life and work of one of Britain's most significant writers, Charles Dickens, in the run-up to his 200th birthday.
"Dickens on the BBC examines the many aspects of the author as performer, social commentator, observational journalist, husband, story-teller, Christmas cheerleader and contradictory family man, and the new adaptations of his novels show his work to be as vital as it ever was."
GALLERIA FOTOGRAFICA Great Expectations
Vedi la galleria fotografica completa