Twelve episodes again for this super-classic story, twelve stations on this way of the cross. That gives the director the time he needs to get down to details since he has three times more time than a normal film director. To see the twelve episodes in one go is also a great privilege because each episode is fresh in your memory when you move to the next. This dramatic suspense is essential in this story if you want to enjoy the social Deus Ex Machina used by Charles Dickens to make a bleak and sinister story into a fairy tale.The story is, at the time of Charles Dickens, about the monstrous social system and its social over-exploitation of orphans and the poor. It is the practice of municipal workhouses in which the poor and orphans are enslaved into doing simple tasks that are profitable for the businessmen for whom they are performed. Dying in that environment is a liberation.On the other hand, if you manage to evade that over-exploitation, you can find your freedom in the enterprising life of thieves organized in bands that are real businesses. The end will unavoidably be death by hanging, or if you are lucky forced labor in some distant colony, but you will have enjoyed your freedom during your short career as a thief.Dickens though always has another objective. After describing the worst social conditions possible in Victorian England, he manages to salvage his main characters, here two orphans, with some kind of artificial confession, birth certificates, medallions, etc., that provides these orphans with a pedigree that has no reason to blush or shrink away in front of the decent society of Queen Victoria who requires you to be born with a silver spoon in your mouth.This particular adaptation by the BBC does not frustrate your expectations that were great at the beginning. The villains are real villains. The do-gooders are real selfless souls, the values of society are enhanced and advocated as best. The chief-thief is de-semitized and reduced to what he is a thief leading children into crime. And the children are marvelously well directed. Oliver Twist is a darling that manages some rather cold and distant attitude in situations that would have made many more cry like wimps.Jacques COULARDEAU

OLIVER TWIST films live or die by their Olivers and this ultra-faithful six-hour British mini, dies with two inadequate Olivers. Not that the rest of the cast does much better. No one seems able to sustain the heightened characterizations Dickens needs, giving us a sort of loud, generic hamminess that quickly wears out its welcome. Even so, it's a treat to (just once) get all the story (the Artful Dodger has some surprising character turns), and it's certainly preferable to a recent mini-series which added a 'clarifying' preface. Memorable versions by Frank Lloyd, David Lean & Carol Reed each lose almost half of the story; for the better say I. With early Dickens, small sins of omission do wonders for story construction, especially in keeping Oliver in personal danger for the climax.

Oliver Twist is one of my favourite Dickens's stories, and this production is the best I've ever seen. The director has somehow managed to restore the dark and Gothic mood of the 19th century London. The cast is brilliant as well. Especially the villains, with Eric Porter as Fagin, and David Garlick as Artful Dodger. Michael Attwell as Bill Sikes also performs a superb acting, I've never seen any other actors who played Bill Sikes doing it so brilliantly. He manages to picture the real Bill Sikes with all the evil characteristics, beside his weak points like any other human beings, especially in the scene after killing Nancy. For those who like the story, I strongly recommend to watch this production. I think it is the most loyal production to the actual text.

I thought that this was an exceptional production, particularly because it starred a young Scott Funnell. At such a young age, his performance was nothing less than remarkable, evoking emotions on a primeval level. I cannot speak more highly of this young superstar, except to say that he has a bright future ahead, matched only by his aspirations and delusions of grandeur. The supporting cast put in an admirable performance too, despite the show stopping form displayed by the Funnell. It was something i wish i did in my youth. Watch this because you will soon find that nothing can match it for sheer pluck and tenacity.