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.

In terms of Dickens dramatisations on televisions, this 2007 dramatisation of "Oliver Twist" is not as good as 2005's "Bleak House" or 2008's "Little Dorritt", both of which were outstanding. In terms of adaptations of this complicated book, it has its downsides but is a solid one. My personal favourite version is the 1948 David Lean film, that had gorgeous cinematography, dramatic music, masterly story-telling, an outstanding Alec Guiness despite the admittedly over-sized nose and a genuinely frightening Robert Newton. This adaptation isn't as good as that version or the timeless 1968 musical, but I personally preferred it over the 1982 TV film with George C.Scott and Tim Curry, that had fine acting but hindered by some questionable plot changes and the 2005 Roman Polanski film, which was decent but bloated. The only one I haven't seen yet is the 1997 film with Elijah Wood, by all means I will give it a chance but I have been told it is one of the worst adaptations of the book.Back on target, the period detail is excellent here with realistic looking sets and well tailored costumes. I for one liked the score, the opening sequence is wonderful, but there are also some dramatic, haunting and beautiful parts when it needed to be. The direction is good especially with Nancy's ghost, the scripting was above decent (I didn't notice any soapish qualities about it) and the pace was good. Dickens's book is insightful but complex in characterisation, particularly with Fagin, there are changes here but the storytelling was not that bad I thought. The acting is mostly very good, William Miller gives Oliver a fair amount of innocence while giving him some steel too. Sophie Okenedo is a subtle Nancy, Gregor Fisher is a suitably grotesque Mr Bumble, Edward Fox is a fine Mr Brownlow and Julian Rhind-Tutt is startling as Monks. The best characterisation though was Tom Hardy as Bill Sikes. Sikes is a turbulent, big, burly and violent man and not only did Hardy meet all of these brilliantly, his interpretation was also emotionally complex.However, there were one or two disappointments. I may be the only one who was disappointed in Timothy Spall's Fagin. I have nothing personal against Spall, far from it, he is an exceptional actor, but Fagin is supposed to be in my opinion oily, vile and manipulative. Fagin here was more reminiscent of WormTail but with an accent and he was too passive. Away from the casting, the other flaw was the length, having been timed during the Christmas season the later part of the dramatisation felt rather stretched.Overall, this is a good dramatisation, not outstanding but worth the look. 8/10 Bethany Cox

With this version, and having not read the original, I never realised the original story was ant-semitic, particularly when Fagin was being sentenced by the Judge, and in this version Fagin was called "fagin the Jew". I guess all the previous versions were censored or adapted as they are described.I was more interested in the story than the acting, although I thought the mood was captured quite well. Edward Fox was fine as Mr. Brownlow, a previous review suggested he was cold but I suspect the actor was correct and portrayed his character according to the period, also this was a drama not a sing song version.As far as I am aware this is the only version to include the references I have described earlier in any version whether TV or Movie.

I liked this series a lot and would watch it again if repeated. The subtle update in characterisation was particularly effective.There were also many impressive performances from some equally well-known and new faces. A particular highlight was the brilliant performance by Connor Catchpole, who played Pearly, one of Fagin's boys. From the moment he appeared on screen in episode three he captured the essence of the character perfectly and projected a confidence befitting an actor of more senior years.I would confidently conclude that Connor is a star in the making and is currently perfecting his talent at the Performing Arts Department of Bower Park School, Romford, Essex.