By Lidia Molina-Whyte

Published: Wednesday, 19 January 2022 at 12:00 am


Oliver Twist prequel Dodger is coming to CBBC and iPlayer next month, with the first-look trailer teasing madcap antics, plenty of ducking and diving through Victorian London and some extremely poor dental hygiene.

The 10-part series is inspired by Charles Dickens’ classic and imagines a backstory to The Artful Dodger and Fagin’s gang before the events of Oliver Twist.

Set in the 1830s, the trailer offers a glimpse at the stellar cast in character, including Doctor Who star Christopher Eccleston as Fagin and David Threlfall (Shameless, Housewife) as the Chief of Police, Sir Charles Rowan.

They are joined by Billy Jenkins as Dodger, and a host of colourful characters played by Rhys Thomas, who co-wrote the series, Saira Choudhry and Sam C Wilson.

Dodger will follow the gang of pickpockets down on their luck, despite Fagin’s efforts to keep them afloat and stay one step ahead of the police. Some of Dodger’s schemes include acting in a haunted theatre, sneaking into Madame Tussauds, posing as a long-lost boy, printing their own dodgy money, a daring rescue from a hellish carnival, running the gauntlet with an obsessive Egyptologist and even breaking into Buckingham Place.

“Before you, I was just a boy who nicked stuff – now I’m a legend,” Dodger tells Fagin in the trailer, which you can watch below.