Dodger is a brand new family drama available on BBC iPlayer and coming to BBC One, and is based on the iconic Charles Dickens novel Oliver Twist. The ten-part series follows standalone adventures, which are then brought together in the final episode. It is created and written by Emmy award-winning Rhys Thomas, alongside comedian Lucy Montgomery.Dodger Season 1 Download
Christopher Eccleston has been confirmed to play Fagin, the main antagonist of Oliver Twist who teaches youngsters how to pickpocket. Speaking about the role, he said: “Fagin is an iconic role, I’m a very fortunate actor. Rhys Thomas and Lucy Montgomery have taken Charles Dickens’s extraordinary characters and imagined a whole new world and lives for them. I’m very, very excited.”Billy Jenkins, best known for his role as a young Prince Charles in The Crown, has been cast as Dodger. Explaining the premise of the series to us in a recent interview said: “Everyone knows Dodger from Oliver Twist, but no one actually knows where he comes from. What’s his past? Was he always called Dodger? You see how he becomes in these adventures.”Dodger follows the infamous pickpocket, The Artful Dodger (real name Jack Dawkins), and Fagin’s gang as they find ingenious ways to survive the grim and exploitative conditions of early Victorian London in the 1830s. It is a look at the world of Oliver Twist through the eyes of the “bad guys”.Speaking about the adaptation, Rhys Thomas says: “I have always loved Oliver Twist but wasn’t so keen on Oliver himself. I preferred the company of Dodger, Fagin and the gang. I thought it would be fun to create a family show with Dodger at its heart and see how he came to be a master criminal in Victorian London.”Working with the very best material as a springboard, it’s a total delight to expand Dickens’ rich world of characters and create a few of my own. To top it all, we have an incredible cast who are starring in the show. I can’t wait for families all over the world to see it!”Speaking about Dodger’s origins Billy reveals: “When we first see Jack Dawkins, before he becomes Dodger, he’s working in a cotton mill workhouse.