INTERESTING SHOWS TO WATCH LIKE ‘THE ARTFUL DODGER’
Today we return with another watchalikes list. This time the focus turns to the sassy and still gorgeous period drama The Artful Dodger, a show I’m not sure I’ll successfully find things like it to watch. But regardless of the second guessing, I’m still going to forge ahead and see what we find! Hopefully this watchalike collection will also include other quirky but stunning period drama titles.
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INTERESTING SHOWS TO WATCH LIKE ‘THE ARTFUL DODGER.’ Things to enjoy like #TheArtfulDodger! How many have you seen? Share on XThis show, which debuted in the U.S. on Disney+ and Hulu, is hailed as being from Australia, is a story that works off of a “years later” scenario in the aftermath of Charles Dickens Oliver Twist. This isn’t a classic I’ve ever loved, at least not as an adaptation, but I have been thoroughly enjoying this series. It’s one that follows Jack Dawkins as he tries to hold together a medical career and the shadows of his past (including Fagin!) that creeps back into his life, which threatens all he builds. Of course, there is intrigue and danger, stunning costumes and a forbidden romance, too! So, yeah, there’s lots to recommend this.
SHOWS like THE ARTFUL DODGER to watch
BLEAK HOUSE
The cast is fabulous in this period drama that is also an adaptation of a Charles Dickens novel. It also does have a doctor (though he doesn’t get drawn into a heist or curious mystery) and involves a long court case that is a beacon a young couple pins their hopes on. There is also some romance, and while it’s minor, one of them has a delightful final moment. This also features one of the most likable heroine’s in Ester Summerson.
Synopsis: An exploration of the British judiciary system as a longstanding estate case drones on and impacts the daily lives of the potential heirs. – Prime Video
Stream, at publication, with BritBox; or digitally purchase on places like Prime Video
THE BUCCANEERS, 2023
This one eliminates the element of mystery, but it looks similar with its desire to be modern. In fact, this one is very overtly modern and doesn’t really try to be anything but this. Of course, the look is often pretty, but nothing else really puts us in mind of the era, and this presents us with characters who are objectively difficult to like or root one; no one has loyalty or really wants to make a marriage work nor does anyone seem to have integrity. The one male character I was rooting for was killed off so yeah, I’m not sure how this will all work. The story revolves around American girls who take on the London season in the 1800s (and of course they cause quite a stir!).
Synopsis: A group of American girls travel to 1870s London. Sent for husbands and status, their hearts are set on more than that. – Prime Video
Stream, at publication, with Apple TV
DICKENSIAN
This is a BBC drama that kind of shows us how famous Dickens characters get to where they do. This includes a kind of prequel to how Miss Havisham becomes the woman who wanders a run down mansion in a wedding dress or how a young Honoria Barbary becomes, well, Lady Dedlock! This one starts happy, but of course it ends up morphing into darkness, but the pretty and cast is still worth seeing this for. It also feels quite fitting as a similar The Artful Dodger title for a “things to watch” list.
Synopsis: In 19th-century London, the stories and lives of iconic characters from the famous works of novelist Charles Dickens come to life and intertwine. – Prime Video
Stream, at publication, with BritBox; or digitally purchase on places like Prime Video
THE DOCTOR BLAKE MYSTERIES
This is a 50s mystery drama that follows a doctor who returns (post WWII) to take over his father’s medical practice. The story also has a deeper romance that is quite slow burn and lots of personal complications that the lead doctor must first work through before he can embrace a future.
Synopsis: In 1959, after decades away from his native Australia-studying medicine in Scotland, serving in World War II and living in China-Blake returns to his rural hometown to run his late father’s medical practice. But life does not remain peaceful for long, as the inquisitive and erudite Blake finds himself drawn into the quest to solve murders that confound local law enforcement. – Prime Video
Stream, at publication, with BritBox or Roku
ENOLA HOLMES, movie series
These are delightful and good fits on our things to watch like The Artful Dodger list. Why? Well, even set in a totally different world, these share the reimagining of classics (‘Dodger’ from Dickens, and ‘Enola’ from Conan Doyle), and they also combine modern antics with period drama. In the case of these (there are two films so far with a third set to drop in 2026), Henry Cavill plays Sherlock Holmes, elder brother to his sassy and smart younger sister Enola, which is played by Millie Bobby Brown. In short, these movies are adventurous and just so much fun!
Stream Enola Holmes and Enola Holmes 2 with Netflix
MISS SCARLET
A Masterpiece on PBS series, this is well loved mystery that also mingles with romance. It started as being Miss Scarlet and the Duke, the male titular character being the best friend Eliza Scarlet has known for years. But he has a deep unrequited love (she just isn’t there to see him in this way yet) for Eliza which leads him to leave for America where he takes a new job. Eliza again picks up solving cases with the man who replaces William aka the Duke, a man named Alexander Blake. In the rebranded show, titled simply Miss Scarlet, Eliza forges a new business path and perhaps finally experiences true love.
Synopsis: After Eliza Scarlet’s father dies of a heart attack, she takes over his private detective business, against the wishes of everyone around her, including family friend Inspector Wellington. Does Eliza have what it takes to be a detective? – Prime Video
Stream, at publication with PBS Masterpiece; or digitally purchase on places like Prime Video
MY LADY JANE
This was a one and day Prime Video drop that adapted the novel (of the same name). Breakout star (from People we Meet on Vacation) Emily Bader plays the titular character, which is loosely inspired by the real life historical figure Lady Jane Gray, the woman who was queen for nine days. It has a kind of fantastical take that instead uses humor to upend everything history says about this woman’s life, and as a result is again, similar to The Artful Dodger. This is one of the rare adaptations that I don’t care for, and instead heartily recommend the novel. However, this is also a show that had many viewers depressed over its cancelation.
Synopsis: Are you ready for an epic tale of true love, high adventure, regicidal maniacs, deadpan heroism, devious intrigues, swashbuckling swordfights, a soupçon of magical realism and oodles of yearning, banter and undeniable chemistry? Of course you are. Welcome to My Lady Jane. – Prime Video
Stream, at publication, with Prime Video
VIENNA BLOOD
I watched part of the first season of this dark drama and found it interesting. It’s unique and the cast is also quite good. It’s also, unlike most of these, got the doctor or forensics angle too that makes it a bit more like The Artful Dodger. The show is actually also interesting and the atmosphere is cool, too.
Synopsis: Max Liebermann, a disciple of Freud, brings his extraordinary skills of perception and forensics–and a deep understanding of human behavior and deviance–to help DI Oskar Rheinhardt solve some of Vienna’s most mysterious and deadly cases. – Prime Video
Stream, at publication with PBS Masterpiece; or digitally purchase on places like Prime Video
Photos: Alamy
Stream, at publication, The Artful Dodger seasons one and two now on Hulu or Hulu on Disney+
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What shows do you think fit this? Which titles to watch like The Artful Dodger would you add? Which would you subtract? Share all of your thoughts on any of the shows we mention or what you think of The Artful Dodger!
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