Oliver Twist Resources

Movie or TV Productions

Roman Polanski’s Oliver Twist

This production came out in 2005.

1999 mini-series Oliver Twist

This one has a great cast, including Keira Knightley as Rose, and Andy Serkis as Bill Sikes.

The musical: Oliver!

Oliver Twist was adapted as a musical in 1968. This is the most famous film version of the musical – it won 5 Oscars.

Videos

Adapting Oliver Twist for the stage
Here’s a discussion of how Neil Bartlett adapted Oliver Twist for the stage.

Audio

Oliver Twist Audiobook SPONSORED

Purchase and download the Audiobook from Random House Audio

Documents

Henry Mayhew – London Labour, and the London Poor

Mayhew was a buddy of Dickens. He was also a journalist and kind of an amateur sociologist – he visited all the dodgy parts of London and interviewed real criminals, prostitutes, and various other seedy characters from the London underworld. This book is a collection of a lot of his articles from just around the period of Oliver Twist.

D.A. Miller – The Novel and the Police

This book shows how the novel itself can be seen as a mechanism for a kind of social control. Miller talks a lot about Oliver Twist and some of the issues of confinement and power that are discussed elsewhere in this module.

Keith Hollingsworth – The Newgate Novel

This is a good and readable history of the Newgate novel, and should provide some useful context if you’re interested in crime fiction.

Lucy Moore – Con Men and Cutpurses

This is a history book that focuses more on the eighteenth century than the nineteenth, but it’s easy to read and gives some great background info on crime and punishment during the period.

Other

Newgate Novels-- Britannica
Britannica online has a good entry on Newgate novels, as well, but you’ll need to log in from your school or library in order to access it.