studioAT So beloved are the Dickens novels that each new adaption of them sees fresh scrutiny. Everyone has an idea in their heads of how the characters should look/sound.I thought this mini series was OK, without ever being great. There are good portrayals, and others where I felt too many liberties had been taken.I liked Timothy Spall in his role of Fagin. He brought a fresh spin on it, that was engaging.It was a hit and miss adaption for me though on the whole.

raulbarros Her most outstanding merit is what we may call the perfect balance of evil in the film. Fagin is evil in his greed and mischief of goyim world Sykes is evil in his resentment which find its roots in his biography The judge is evil in his prejudices and arrogance. Mr. Brownlow is evil is his socially inherited ignorance of poverty and the very harsh conditions of the poor.All characters are credible in our present day perspective. Coky Giederoyc is sensible, cultured, pityfull, and fair in the treatment of all characters and considers the context, the time, the beliefs of the era. True that she sacrifices some features of the original novel but this is done in benefit of the better understanding of this social novel. A 10 for this extraordinary director!!

Kitty03 Dickens' Oliver Twist has been the subject of many adaptations, including the movie version of the god-awful stage musical. It is this one, and a subsequent version made for American television in 1997 that I have seen most recently and it is with those that I make my comparisons. (I have seen all or part of at least 3 others, but not recently, including the Roman Polanski version). In terms of overall realism, this version far outstrips many of the others. This may or may not be a good thing, depending on whether you want a jolly fairy-tale or a sobering social commentary. If the former, don't bother with this version. Despite the presence of a number of good actors, I found some of the performances a bit disappointing. In particular, the lead William Miller was sometimes lacking in emotion. However, this performance brought out something quite different than other versions. In those Oliver is often presented as a gentle innocent. Miller's Oliver, on the other hand, conveys something steely under his youth. He is no victim of circumstance, swept along by events, but a character who has the potential to grow into someone even a Bill Sykes would fear. The performance of Hardy as Sykes was almost completely lacking in the menace that an actor like Oliver Reed could convey even in the silliest of musicals. As Nancy, Sophie Okenado conveyed a totally new version of the character. After the initial surprise, I forgot about the issue of "colour" and could believe in her totally as a character of the time. The savagery of her death, however, was strangely low-key in comparison to the rest of the movie. I thought Timothy Spall was excellent, perhaps the best thing in the movie, giving this Fagin a depth. When he would rather hang than renounce his religion, Spall's Fagin achieves near nobility. Finally, the end of the series was very thought-provoking, contrasting as it did the fates of two young boys: Dodger and Twist. Oliver Twist, child of an upper-class family, is shown in a happy Christmas scene reunited with his loving family and destined to a life of ease. Dodger, on the other hand, who is shown with particular sympathy in this version, is left to find the body of his beloved Nancy and to listen to his protector Fagin's death by hanging. In the end, he walks away a little Sykes in the making. The message is clear.

jc-osms Not the greatest production of Dickens' classic, let down in the main by mixed acting and an over-intrusive musical score at odds with the period in which the drama is set. The casting is unusual to say the least, in particular a coloured actress plays Nancy and although Sophie Okonedo acts well she doesn't quite carry off the novelty. Also Gregor Fisher is unconvincing as Mr Bumble, Edward Fox barely registers any emotion in his part and Tom Hardy as Bill Sykes fails to demonstrate the innate psychopathy, indeed the way the part is played, you almost feel the director is straying dangerously close to glamourising and thus garnering sympathy for what is, on the page a yobbish brute. The whole is dominated by Timothy Spall's take on the Fagin part. For me he grossly overacts in a very mannered way and repels this viewer with some slightly distasteful mannerisms. Better are Sarah Lancashire as Bumble's selfish scheming wife and Rob Brydon in a fine comic turn as a judge with attitude but against that, the child acting is very poor, they merely seem to read their lines, certainly no Jack Wild here and the only really imaginative scenes are those where the murdered Nancy's ghost haunts Sykes as he takes Oliver hostage on his escape to the country and back. This was a made for TV mini-series and it shows. A great story reduced in the re-telling.