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This is a really interesting outing which attempts to be naturalistic with a deeply artificial form. I have watched it tens of times because I love the original and I love this version.

As always, MacHeath and Polly are not terribly likable - which is more a fault of changing mores and the script than the acting.

However, everyone else in the cast is brilliant, with the most amazingly chewy performance by Patricia Routledge as Mrs. Peachum. Peachum and Lockit and Lucy and Filch are all very likable. Bob Hoskins does an excellent cameo.

The production values are really high. The costuming is wonderful. The music is lush. The scenery is appropriately grotty and dark.

The meta-ness of the attempt to be natural with it can turn one's head inside out occasionally, particularly with the lovely ending gallop to "Thus I stand like the Turk", which substitutes for a curtain call. All in all, if you like the play, you should really enjoy this TV-made film.

John Gay's 'The Beggar's Opera' is a lot of fun and it is no wonder it's popular with most, the dialogue, music and characters are all great. Benjamin Britten's radically different but enormously enjoyable and melodious version is also well worth it as well.

This is a highly entertaining production that is not quite flawless but does a huge amount work. The vocal weak link is Roger Daltrey's Macheath, somewhat underpowered and limited, and while reasonably charismatic the other actors captured the essence of their characters more, Macheath is not exactly likable and Daltrey doesn't do enough to change one's mind. Was not a fan of the darker alternative ending, which staging wise was a little fudged too.

However, this production of 'The Beggar's Opera' is beautifully designed and costumed and the way it's photographed does nothing to hinder that. Gay's music is lovely, enthusiastically and sympathetically played by the period instrument orchestra and aided by John Elliot Gardiner's vigorous and nuanced conducting.

Furthermore, the dialogue is performed with wit and naturalism. Jonathan Miller directs compellingly, allowing the staging and drama to be exuberant, entertaining and relatable as possible.

Daltrey apart, the performances are excellent and the singing is above average. Bob Hoskins is an enjoyable Beggar, while Carol Hall is affecting as Polly and Isla Blair's Jenny Diver more vicious than usual. Rosemary Asche is a vengeful and beautifully characterised Lucy, and the Filch and Lockit are no less inferior.

Patricia Routledge and Stratford Johns (the best singer in the cast) give the standout performance. Routledge is an absolute hoot as Mrs Peachum and Johns' Mr Peachum is suitably menacing.

Overall, highly entertaining. 9/10 Bethany Cox