ICYMI: Hulu’s The Artful Dodger Is a Delightful, Irreverent Twist on Dickens
Photo Courtesy of Hulu
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Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist has been adapted to the screen more than a hundred times. From feature films to BBC miniseries, there is no shortage of ways to engage with this story. But, though it takes place in that world, The Artful Dodger is not an adaptation of Oliver Twist. Instead, the show serves as a pseudo-sequel to the 1838 novel, centering on the character of pickpocket Jack Dawkins, aka “The Artful Dodger.”
Relocating the characters and story from London to Australia, Hulu’s 2023 series The Artful Dodger picks up in the 1850s, several years after the events of Oliver Twist. Twist himself is no longer in the picture and Jack Dawkins (a hardened Thomas Brodie-Sangter) has pushed aside his problematic past to take up a nobler ambition: medicine. He soon meets royalty in Lady Belle (played by the delightfully sardonic Maia Mitchell), who is eager to practice medicine herself, despite the disapproval of everybody around her. The thing is, women just don’t do that, particularly if they are royalty. Her father is the airheaded Governor and has no intention of making staffing changes to his hospital, nor the way it is run.
Though Dawkins is one of the primary surgeons in the city and has (mostly) turned away from his pickpocketing past, he is far from well-regarded by those of high social standing—quite the opposite, actually. Despite his honorable work, he isn’t compensated for his duties. With no money to speak of, he must gamble to collect any kind of living wage. Thus, he is forced into impossible situations where he usually is prone to lose. For instance, his business with the Harbour Master Darius Cracksworth (a Dickens name if I ever heard one) is just one of many bad turns for Dawkins. When Cracksworth cheats him during a game of cards, he finds himself in considerable debt. Though everything in his current conscience tells him not to return to his criminal ways, the untimely arrival of pickpocketing mastermind Fagin (David Thewelis) makes his reentry into that world all the more tempting.
In this series, the adjective “artful” takes on a whole new meaning. Before, the word was used to describe the way in which Dodger nicked watches and other trinkets from passersby. Now, his artfulness can be seen in the surgeries he performs on the people of the city. Despite his young age and lack of proper training, he is meticulous in the operating theater, something that cannot be said for his contemporaries despite their credentials. This marks another significant departure from its source material: its genre-bending nature. The best way to describe it might be as a “period medical drama.”
The show balances its literary roots nicely; it isn’t overly Dickensian—at least for those closely familiar with his stories and characters. But it does indeed riff on the exaggerated characters and environmental factors which force characters like Fagin and Dawkins into seemingly impossible circumstances, with only extreme measures to be taken in response. In his works, Dickens always offered explicit commentary about poverty and the inequality of social class. Scrooge’s lack of charity and disregard for the poor in A Christmas Carol is a well-known example. Workhouses, debtors’ prison, and the abusive education system are detailed in other stories. And then there is, of course, that famous image of Oliver Twist, bowl in hand, asking for more food. The continuation of this theme of social discrepancy through Dawkins’ story does allow it to maintain its Dickensian flavor.