oliver Twist.

[MWB]

I just watched the BBC's "Oliver Twist".

How did Oliver learn to read if he had been raised in the workhouse?
A little too much poetic licience by Charlie methinks!

[MWB]

The BBC show had his mother die in giving birth to him.

Does the book differ to this?

[Lil O'lady]

No, she dies in childbirth in the book, giving a secret to the mad old girl who was left in charge of her.
Workhouses had 'schools', often just another older inmate reading the Bible to a group of children. It varied in practice from location to location but some workhouse governors set great store by inmates being taught.
The implementation of the Poor Law Reform Act also varied hugely around the country - not all areas had workhouse administrations that were as cruel as the one described in Oliver Twist.

[saxy_jag]

Docspock, you might be thinking of David Copperfield, I think.

Oliver Twist's mother died in childbirth and he spent the first eight years of his life at a baby farm before being transferred to the workhouse.

The BBC version, as with many dramatised versions of such novels, isn't entirely faithful to the book. This happens for all sorts of reasons.

Mr Dickens was not given to taking liberties with poetic licence. What he had to say and write about was far too serious and, sadly, commonplace for that.

[weggiewabbit]

David Lean's 1948 version is on Channel 4 on Monday 29th at 2pm (Alec Guinness as Fagin and Robert Newton as Bill Sikes). This is the one I like best, but see what you think!