Disney’s Artful Dodger admits: ‘It’s not really very Dickensian’

IT IS based on Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist, taking the story of one of the novel most charismatic young characters to new heights, but viewers should not expect a new series about the Artful Dodger to be “very Dickensian”.

Thomas Brodie-sangster, who plays the character of the Artful Dodger, has said: “It’s not very Dickensian – we didn’t worry about the history.”

Instead of taking the story on in the world of Victorian London, where poverty and workhouses loom, it has instead been moved to Australia, where the young pickpocket’s skills have led him to a career as a surgeon.

The main character, also known as Jack Dawkins, falls in love with the governor’s daughter, herself on a mission to become the colony’s first female surgeon, before the re-emergence of the Oliver Twist villain Fagin to lure him back into a life of crime in the series, which begins on Disney+ this week.

In an interview with Radio Times, Brodie-sangster – who appeared in Love Actually as a child and went on to star in Games of Thrones – said that he had not watched the many television and film adaptations of the Dickens novel in preparation for the role.

“I wondered about doing that and then I didn’t,” he said. “I loved the original film and I looked at some still images. Weirdly, I looked at some behind-the-scenes stuff but no, I realised quite quickly that I didn’t need to do that.

“That film is quite ingrained in my head as a kid anyway and whatever I needed to pull on from that, I did but I didn’t ever actually find myself doing that.”

He added: “We were doing quite a different – it’s very, very different.

“It’s colourful, not really very Dickensian when you think about it.

“I wanted to focus on what was on the page, on the script, do them justice and not worry quite so much about the history because anyone that’s truly a Dickens fan and loves the books, it’s not that.

“It’s taken those characters and throwing them into a different setting.”

‘I wanted to focus on what was on the page, on the script ... not worry quite so much about the history’