A fresh TWIST

THOMAS BRODIE-SANGSTER on imagining the later years of Charles Dickens' prince of thieves

- CAREN CLARK

THE ARTFUL DODGER NEW FROM WEDNESDAY 17 JANUARY, DISNEY+ DRAMA

The audacious antics of crafty pickpocket Jack ‘The Artful Dodger’ Dawkins in Charles Dickens’ classic novel Oliver Twist have secured his position as one of literature’s most loveable rogues. As the story ended, however, the youngster’s crimes had caught up with him and he was arrested for theft. But what happened next?

This is the question at the heart of The Artful Dodger, a starry new drama launching on Disney+ this week.

Set in the 1850s, some 15 years after the events of the book, the eight-part series finds a now grown-up Dodger (played by Love Actually star Thomas Brodie-Sangster) living in the (fictional) colony of Port Victory in Australia, where he has discovered a new vocation as a brilliant, if maverick, surgeon.

But will he be tempted back to his old ways when his wily former mentor Fagin (Harry Potter’s David Thewlis) arrives Down Under?

Here, Thomas, 33, gives his take on the caper…

How would you describe this show, Thomas?

It has everything a British period drama does, but it is set amid the blazing-hot skies of Australia, which is a cool dynamic to play with. There’s a Romeo and Juliet-style romantic story, but it’s also a fun heist drama!

Could you tell us about Dodger’s life as a surgeon?