Bleak Expectations is a Radio 4 comedy series, whose first series premiered in August 2007. It is a pastiche of the works of Charles Dickens – such as Bleak House and Great Expectations, from which it derives its name – and costume dramas set in the same period, and parodies several of their plot devices (such as cruel guardians, idyllic childhoods interrupted, lifelong friendships, earnest young people), whilst simultaneously tending toward a highly surreal humour along the lines of The Goon Show. The series has also demonstrated a fondness for allusions to and parodies of the films of Alec Guinness, particularly the Edwardian satire Kind Hearts and Coronets.

It is written by Mark Evans, who plays minor characters in most episodes, and produced by Gareth Edwards. Its opening and closing theme is the main theme from the Mazurka from Three Characteristic Pieces by Edward Elgar.

The plot of the first series revolves around Philip "Pip" Bin, inventor of the Bin, and his two sisters, Poppy and Pippa, whose seemingly ideal life is disrupted by the death of their father and the madness of their mother. They are then locked away by their guardian, Mr. Gently Benevolent (who, despite his name, is actually the main villain of the piece), in St. Bastard's, the most vicious boarding school in England, and St. Bitch's, a nearby convent. Pip and his sisters attempt to free themselves of their guardian with the help of Harry Biscuit, whose father invented the biscuit. It is narrated by Pip as an old man to the journalist (and his eventual son-in-law) Sourquill, who brings various useless inventions to assist in recording the events.

01 - A Childhood Cruelly Kippered
02 - An Adolescence Utterly Trashed
03 - A Youth Utterly Crocked
04 - A Young Adulthood Bitterly Dismantled
05 - A Young Love Mercilessly Dismembered
06 - A Life Sadly Smashed Then Happily Restored A Bit
07 - A Happy Life, Cruelly Re-Kippered
08 - A Re-Kippered Life Smashed Some More
09 - A Recovery All Made Miserable
10 - A Restoration Re-Ruined, Only Even Worse
11 - An Already Bad Life Made Worse But Sort Of On Purpose
12 - A Happy Life Broken And Then Mended A Bit
13 - A Sort of Fine Life De-niced Completely
14 - A Now Grim Life Yet More Grimified
15 - A Lovely Life Re-Kippered Again Once More
16 - A Horrible Life Un-ruined and then Re-ruinated a Lot
17 - An Evil Life Sort of Explained
18 - Lives Lost, Ruined, Wrecked and Redeemed
19 - A Tolerable Life De-Happified
20 - A Now-Spoiled Life Smashed Some More
21 - A Wretched Life Made Much, Much Sadder
22 - A Painful Life Further Re-Miserabled
23 - A Now Tricky Life Woefully Miseried Up
24 - A Life Destroyed Then Repaired and Rehappied
25 - A Pleasant Yet Dull Life Re-Evilled
26 - A Re-Excited Life Made Distinctly Dangerous
27 - An Alrightish Life Savagely Frozen to Bits
28 - A Writerly Life Made Dreadfully Different
29 - A Terrifying Life Made Even Scarier a Bit Some More
30 - A Loved-Up Life Potentially Totally Annihilated