BAFTA-winning Mike Newell (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire) returns behind the camera this year to bring us his highly-anticipated adaptation of Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations.

We got our first look at a terrifyingly convincing Helena Bonham Carter as Miss Havisham last year, followed by the first image of Jeremy Irvine as the young Pip, and now we’ve got a brilliant first look at Ralph Fiennes as Magwitch.

“An outstanding roster of British acting talent — including Ralph Fiennes, Helena Bonham Carter, Robbie Coltrane, Sally Hawkins, Jason Flemyng, Ewen Bremner — bring Charles Dickens’ universe to life in this magnificent new screen version of the classic novel from director Mike Newell (Four Weddings and a Funeral).”

Newell is of course one of the most well-respected and long-standing British directors, and he’s directing here from a script by the best-selling novelist/screenwriter David Nicholls (Starter for 10, One Day).

Great Expectations is one of my favourite novels of Dickens’, and with such a strong array of talent involved, the project is naturally very much highly anticipated. Starring alongside Irvine, Bonham Carter, and Fiennes is a great cast, headed up by Robbie Coltrane, Jason Flemyng, Sally Hawkins, David Walliams, Holliday Grainger, and the great Ewen Bremner.

Great Expectations will be making its debut at the Toronto International Film Festival early next month, before its release in the UK on 21st November. No word yet on when it will be heading to the US, but if the reception at Toronto is as well as expected, it will hopefully be before the end of the year too. As usual with this great first look at Fiennes, you can click to enlarge.