Disney+ filming new ‘Artful Dodger’ series set in 1850s Australia

Production is underway on a new TV series about the Artful Dodger.

The upcoming period drama is loosely based on the character of Jack Dawkins – aka the Artful Dodger – from the classic novel Oliver Twist.

Set in Australia in the 1850s, the show will explore the adult double life of Charles Dickens’ famous prince of thieves, who we’re told is “now a surgeon who can’t shake his predilection for crime.”

Promising “a rock ’n’ roll tale with an Aussie connection,” the official synopsis teases everything from “high-octane heists to life-and-death surgeries, glittering parties to colorful streets.”

The eight-part series began filming last November in New South Wales, Australia.

Leading the cast as the show’s title character is English actor Thomas Brodie-Sangster.

The 32-year-old is best known as young Sam in Love Actually.

In more recent years, he’s appeared in Game of Thrones, Pistol, Godless, and The Queen’s Gambit.

He’ll be joined by fellow Brit star David Thewlis in the role of Fagin.

You’ll recognise Thewlis from the likes of War Horse, The Theory of Everything, Enola Holmes 2, and the Harry Potter movies.

Australian actress Maia Mitchell will play Lady Belle Fox.

Comedian Tim Minchin is also appearing, alongside fellow Aussie actors Damon Herriman (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood), Miranda Tapsell (Top End Wedding), Susie Porter (Wentworth), Kym Gyngell (Love Me), Damien Garvey (Jack Irish), Jessica De Gouw (The Secrets She Keeps), Andrea Demetriades (Seven Types of Ambiguity), Luke Carroll (Upright), and Huw Higginson (Total Control).

Newcomers Lucy-Rose Leonard, Nicholas Burton, Jude Hyland, Finn Treacy and Albert Latailakepa round out the cast.

The Artful Dodger is expected to premiere exclusively on Disney+ towards the end of 2023.

The series is unrelated to the BBC’s hit children’s drama Dodger, which returns next month with a one-off Easter special.

Charles Dickens’ novel Oliver Twist is available on Amazon.