Oliver!/Annie

Double bill of musicals about lovable orphans. ‘Oliver!’ (1968) is a musical version of the classic Dickens tale. Young orphan Oliver (Mark Lester) suffers under a harsh regime at the workhouse run by Mr Bumble (Harry Secombe). He manages to escape, and, after meeting a friendly pickpocket known as the Artful Dodger (Jack Wild), joins a gang of street thieves operated by the disreputable Fagin (Ron Moody). Although happy with his new friends, Oliver takes a dislike to Fagin’s violent and aggressive colleague, Bill Sykes (Oliver Reed). In John Huston’s 1981 screen version of the Broadway musical ‘Annie’ (based on the long-running comic strip ‘Little Orphan Annie’), Annie (Aileen Quinn) lives a miserable life in an orphanage run by the cruel Miss Hannigan (Carol Burnett). A chance of escape and happiness comes Annie’s way when she meets billionaire ‘Daddy’ Warbucks (Albert Finney), but Hannigan and her colleagues are determined to get the girl back.