'The Artful Dodger' Trailer Introduces Dr. Dawkins

Charles Dickens published Oliver Twist; or, The Parish Boy's Progress, from 1837-1839. The story was an immediate hit and turned into a "burletta" upon completion. The first film adaptation was made in 1909; there have been over two dozen on-screen versions since, not counting the famous musical. But Oliver wasn't the only character to capture the imagination. Jack Dawkins, his buddy known as The Artful Dodger, has been just as popular, sometimes more so, as he's old enough to be crushable. The latest version, played by Thomas Brodie-Sangster (Wolf Hall), brings him into adulthood but not his life of crime.

Brodie-Sangster is not the first to star in an Artful Dodger spinoff series. Australian television had done this before with a period children's show set on the island continent when it was still a penal colony, called Escape of the Artful Dodger. (This follows the character's fate in the novel, where it is suggested he is finally caught over a snuffbox and sentenced to penal transportation.) Other books have also imagined the Dodger's life down under, including Dodge & Twist, Terry Pratchett's 2012 Dodger, and Peter David's 2014 Artful. The CBBC also recently had a Dodger series.

Hulu's new series is also a sequel set down under, following Dawkins' life after being sent away for his snuffbox thievery. It's been about 15 years, and it is now the mid-1850s and Jack Dawkins has grown up and used his skills to finance his way through medical school and put those nimble fingers to use as a surgeon. However, he's sadly mistaken if he thinks that nice clothes and a posh accent will shield him from his old life crawling out of the shadows to find him.