Contemporary OLIVER TWIST Procedural In the Works at NBC

According to The Hollywood Reporter, a new female-driven contemporary procedural based on the Charles Dickens' classic 1830's novel OLIVER TWIST is in the works at NBC. The network will team with Joel Silver and Lionsgate on the drama.

The project, which has already received a script commitment, is described as "a sexy contemporary take on Oliver Twist with a struggling 20-something female (Twist) who finally finds a true sense of family in a strange group of talented outcasts who use their unique skills to take down wealthy criminals."

Chad Damiani and J.P. Lavin will write the script and executive produce alongside Silver and his Lionsgate Television-based Silver Pictures Television banner. Silver Pictures Television president Rodney Ferrell will also executive produce.

Dickens' Oliver Twist followed Oliver, "an orphan who is sold into apprenticeship with an undertaker who eventually escapes and travels to London where he meets the Artful Dodger and elderly criminal Fagin, who oversees the gang of juvenile pickpockets."

The story was made into a feature film in 2005 starring Ben Kingsley and had previously been adapted into the Tony Award winning Broadway musical OLIVER. In 1968, Carol Reed helmed a British musical version of the famous tale which received the Academy Award for Best Picture.

Watch a clip from the 1968 film musical below:

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