# Oliver Twist (2007)

> A workhouse orphan flees to London, falls in with a gang of child pickpockets, and is drawn into a dangerous criminal world in Victorian England.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/12408

## Facts

- Seasons: 1
- Episodes: 5
- Episode runtime: 30 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: drama, crime
- Created by: Sarah Phelps
- Network: BBC One
- Cast: William Miller, Adam Arnold, Timothy Spall, Tom Hardy, Sophie Okonedo, Edward Fox, Sarah Lancashire, Julian Rhind-Tutt
- TMDB rating: 7.3/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1065309/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: measured
- Intensity: moderate
- Complexity: accessible
- Violence: moderate
- Tone: bleak, gritty, unsparing, hopeful

## What critics say

Audiences rated this BBC adaptation of Dickens's novel positively, praising its performances and faithful period atmosphere.

## Synopsis

Oliver Twist (2007) is a British period drama miniseries created by Sarah Phelps for BBC One, a five-episode adaptation of Charles Dickens's novel. William Miller plays the orphan Oliver, who endures cruelty in a workhouse before fleeing to London, where he falls in with a gang of child pickpockets run by the criminal Fagin, played by Timothy Spall. Tom Hardy plays the violent thief Bill Sikes and Sophie Okonedo plays Nancy, whose loyalties are torn between the gang and the boy she tries to protect. Edward Fox appears as the benevolent Mr Brownlow, a figure offering Oliver a way out. Each episode follows Oliver's struggle to survive poverty and exploitation while the gang's schemes pull him toward danger. Set in Victorian England, the series depicts grimy London streets, cramped workhouses and the grinding economics of child labor. Its tone is harsh, bleak and unsparing, a darker take on Dickens that will appeal to fans of Great Expectations and gritty British costume drama, with a hopeful turn for its young hero.

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