Think of it as a late Christmas present: a new adaptation of Great Expectations running from the 27th over three nights. For me there is nothing in the festive schedules I am looking forward to more. It's aimed at kicking off next year's Dickens bicentenary. With a source text — the story of Pip, the blacksmith's boy and his mysterious legacy – that is probably the greatest novel written in English, the BBC is kicking off its 2012 Dickens bicentenary celebrations in some style.

It's not a very festive thought, but I'm most looking forward to the promised austerity, a very unChristmassy virtue of Sarah Phelps's adaptation of the book. I've only seen episode one, but it feels fabulously dark and grownup. It's bleak, raw and shines a sharp, cold light on what is one of Dickens' most complicated and psychologically complex stories. There are no rosy cheeks and roasting chestnuts and "Gawd bless us one and all"s here – thank goodness.

Phelps's adaptation gets right into the mind of jilted bride – and tormentor of Pip – Miss Havisham, here played by a chillingly sepulchral Gillian Anderson. And her ward Estella isn't seen simply as the cruel femme fatale set up to enact her guardian's vengeance on men. She is, if anything, a victim of abuse. "Estella is given a corrupted education, taught about sexual cruelty from an early age and told about the corrupting effects of love," Phelps tells me. "No wonder she is quite drawn to Pip – he comes from the outside, he is something different."

I've always thought that key to Dickens genius was his ability to remember what it was like to be a child. And that's another thing that I think this series will deliver – child actors who aren't merely not embarrassing but are actually rather good. Izzy Meikle-Small as young Estella manages to be both capricious and cool as well as conveying a sense of the real pressure she is under, while Oscar Kennedy is as good a young Pip as you could hope to see, vulnerable, open, watchful and passionate.

So if the grownups in episode two and three are half as good, then this is going to be a Christmas cracker to beat all Christmas crackers. And God bless us. One and all.

My all-time Christmas Cracker: The Box of Delights

"They say the wolves are running master Harker". So went the old Punch and Judy Man's chilling warning to Kay Harker in the BBC's adaptation of John Masefield's 1930s classic. And for me the six-part teatime series is still just about the most magical Christmas TV experience of my life.

First shown in the runup to the 1984 Christmas, this beautifully seasonal adventure had just about everything. It always snowed, children went to boarding school, wore flannel shorts and school caps and travelled home on steam trains. (I on the other hand went to an inner London state school where the pavements always had crap on them).

The hero Kay who was entrusted with the magical box by the mysterious entertainer, could also fly or become small whenever he held it. How can you top that?

My 10-year-old self was clearly exceptionally tolerant of some really quite frightful child acting and special effects — but for me it will always be a wonderful seasonal adventure. Best of all, as each episode went by you knew that Christmas was just that bit closer.