Oliver Untwisted

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Most adaptations of Oliver Twist leave out quite a lot, particularly from the latter half of the book. For those wishing to see a more faithful adaptation there's the 1985 BBC series directed by Gareth Davies. It's good, mainly for the performances, though it's also a reminder of why much of the second half of the book tends to be omitted--it's intensely plot driven melodrama.

Eric Porter plays Fagin, the biggest name in the cast, and for such a sensitive character you need a good actor to have any chance of avoiding an anti-Semitic caricature. That may be impossible anyway but Porter infuses his performance with believably real agony and distress.

Another reason the second half of the book tends to be avoided in most adaptations is that Oliver himself takes very little part in it, staying safely out of sight at the Maylies'. So he does here. One advantage, though, of this more thorough adaptation is to allow Nancy (Amanda Harris) the proper amount of screentime for a character who essentially becomes the book's tragic heroine. Harris gives a good performance too, really the most interesting one in the series, as she has to navigate the conflict between her affection and her morality.