Dodger review – this hilarious Dickens prequel is an utter treat

Nicola Coughlan! Lennie Rush! Paul Whitehouse! This festive special of the Christopher Eccleston-fronted show is a supremely funny, star-packed delight

Within the first two minutes of the new Dodger adventure, our top-hatted hero has been challenged to a duel by the president of the United States of America, which is a problem because Dodger (Billy Jenkins) is brandishing a gun that is actually a stick. His mentor, Fagin (Christopher Eccleston), fashions an escape using a bunch of nettles, and this rollicking Dickens prequel is up and running again – although Fagin doesn’t quite run fast enough to avoid being shot up the backside by a furious president.

Dodger, which follows the Artful Dodger, Fagin and a gang of young thieves in the years before the events of Oliver Twist, is the creation of Rhys Thomas, who was once a part of the Fast Show’s cast – he was the car showroom employee who had to listen to Swiss Toni’s “making love to a beautiful woman” comparisons – and who went on to help Simon Day create spoof prog-rocker Brian Pern. His most underrated work is A Year in the Life of a Year, a mangled New Year roundup that showcased his talent for the lightly silly and the purely funny, skills that make him the ideal author of a comedy for older kids and childish adults.