Dickens' 'Oliver Twist' Coming to TV as a Crime Procedural

From the "Who asked for it?" file today comes news that NBC and Joel Silver are adapting Charles Dickens' novel Oliver Twist as a TV series. The Hollywood Reporter reports that the network has given the script go-ahead for a contemporary take on the story, which will be called Twist.

The extremely loose adaptation features a 20-something woman who teams up with a talented band of misfits who together fight crime. The proposed adaptation seems to have virtually nothing in common with Dickens' novel other than part of its title.

The series will be produced by Joel Silver (Lethal Weapon) and written by Chad Damiani and J.P. Lavin, who are currently working on a film adaptation of the once-popular smartphone game Fruit Ninja.

Dickens' novel features a young orphan boy who becomes part of a gang of pickpockets in 19th-century London under the tutelage of a shady character named Fagin. Aside from the adjustments in the gender and age of the main character, Twist will also alter the book's setting, moving the story to the present day.

The adaptation follows the current trend, both in Hollywood films and on TV, for studios and networks to mine existing properties for reboots, remakes, adaptations and sequels rather than take a risk on original stories. Despite the assumption that audiences want familiar titles, however, the deluge of rehashed movies and series has, thus far, met with limited and inconsistent success.