I have seen most versions of Oliver. I found this difficult to come by in the UK. I had to find a DVD on ebay, which was in a cardboard sleeve that was given away with the Daily Mail in 1999. I will explain what is unique about this version (and was controversial to some).
It is split into 4 x 90 min episodes. The first episode is about the events that happened before Oliver was born. Events that aren't necessarily written in the novel, at least not in the beginning of the novel. But events that we learn about later in in the novel as Oliver comes to learn more about his family connections and his origins. This is something never done before in any version of Oliver. However, it is quite a clever way to structure things and really helps the audience make sense of the convoluted backstory that becomes important in the later stages of the story. Because Oliver is actually a very complicated novel. It is not simply: boy leaves workhouse and travels to London where he meets Fagin and Bill who ultimately receive poetic justice, as is the case in the 1968 musical. It is a much broader story about Oliver's young life and his coming to learn who he is and who his family is in the face of challenges from malevolent members of his family who are trying to exploit him (Monks etc) as well as difficult living circumstances and poverty and characters in London (Fagin etc). If you have only ever seen the 1968 version, which doesn't even feature Monks and cuts out much of the importance of the novel then you will have no clue what is happening in the first 90 minutes of this adaptation. So I can imagine there would have been many people who switched this version on in 1999 and would have been wondering how in the world this was anything to do with Oliver Twist. So in this sense it is a version for the purists, or at least those interested in the complete and proper story of Oliver Twist, the Parish Boy's Progress.
After the first episode, the story continues on as normal, but with some amendments. Some characters are amalgamated and storylines abridged. Therefore despite its best intentions with outlying the backstory at the beginning, it is much less clear and easy to follow as the definitive 1985 version. And overall, though I admit it is a clever way at laying the novel out, it just wasn't particularly enjoyable and tbh it dragged. The casting wasn't great and the production was missing a spark. It is not the most faithful, but one of the most faithful version of Oliver. But falls short on enjoyability.
Watch the 1985 BBC production for the definitive and complete version of Oliver Twist. Many will enjoy the 1968 version for the songs and perfect Mr Bumble (Harry Secombe). Fair enough, but it is not really Oliver Twist, only a romantic heavily abridged version. Some will remember Alec Guinness as the perfect Fagin in David Lean's 1948 version. Fair enough. But the 1985 version is the one. I wouldn't bother hunting this 1999 version out as it offers nothing the the 1985 doesn't do better, and it is far less enjoyable.
It is split into 4 x 90 min episodes. The first episode is about the events that happened before Oliver was born. Events that aren't necessarily written in the novel, at least not in the beginning of the novel. But events that we learn about later in in the novel as Oliver comes to learn more about his family connections and his origins. This is something never done before in any version of Oliver. However, it is quite a clever way to structure things and really helps the audience make sense of the convoluted backstory that becomes important in the later stages of the story. Because Oliver is actually a very complicated novel. It is not simply: boy leaves workhouse and travels to London where he meets Fagin and Bill who ultimately receive poetic justice, as is the case in the 1968 musical. It is a much broader story about Oliver's young life and his coming to learn who he is and who his family is in the face of challenges from malevolent members of his family who are trying to exploit him (Monks etc) as well as difficult living circumstances and poverty and characters in London (Fagin etc). If you have only ever seen the 1968 version, which doesn't even feature Monks and cuts out much of the importance of the novel then you will have no clue what is happening in the first 90 minutes of this adaptation. So I can imagine there would have been many people who switched this version on in 1999 and would have been wondering how in the world this was anything to do with Oliver Twist. So in this sense it is a version for the purists, or at least those interested in the complete and proper story of Oliver Twist, the Parish Boy's Progress.
After the first episode, the story continues on as normal, but with some amendments. Some characters are amalgamated and storylines abridged. Therefore despite its best intentions with outlying the backstory at the beginning, it is much less clear and easy to follow as the definitive 1985 version. And overall, though I admit it is a clever way at laying the novel out, it just wasn't particularly enjoyable and tbh it dragged. The casting wasn't great and the production was missing a spark. It is not the most faithful, but one of the most faithful version of Oliver. But falls short on enjoyability.
Watch the 1985 BBC production for the definitive and complete version of Oliver Twist. Many will enjoy the 1968 version for the songs and perfect Mr Bumble (Harry Secombe). Fair enough, but it is not really Oliver Twist, only a romantic heavily abridged version. Some will remember Alec Guinness as the perfect Fagin in David Lean's 1948 version. Fair enough. But the 1985 version is the one. I wouldn't bother hunting this 1999 version out as it offers nothing the the 1985 doesn't do better, and it is far less enjoyable.