australian television information archive

Escape of the Artful Dodger

Executive Producers: Andrew Brooke, Kris Noble
Producers: Roger Mirams, Howard Rubie
Directors: Howard Rubie, Sophia Turkiewicz
Writers: David Philips, Karen Peterson, Robert Loader

Aired: 2001 (13 x 30 min)

Tells the story of Jack Dawkins, introduced in Charles Dickens' "Oliver Twist" as the Artful Dodger, the fastest-talking, nimblest fingered young pick-pocket in London. As he side-steps and ducks his way from one disaster to another, the Dodger comes to realise that his voyage to Australia may be a real escape from his old life, an opportunity to be, not a crook… but a hero.