The idea of The Twits was triggered by Dahl's desire to 'do something against beards', because he had an acute hatred of them. The first sentence of the story is, 'What a lot of hairy-faced men there are around nowadays'. Mr. Twit puts a frog in Mrs. Twit’s bed and says that it is a Giant Skillywiggler… Draw what a Skillywiggler might look like. By April 2022, an animated television series for Netflix was turned into a feature film. [20] An animated film, directed by Phil Johnston, is scheduled for release in 2025. [21] Relations to other Roald Dahl books [ edit ]

Mrs Twit Mrs Twit was no better than her husband. She did not, of course, have a hairy face. It was a pity she didn’t because that at any rate would have hidden some of her fearful ugliness. Take a look at her. Have you ever seen a woman with an uglier face than that? I doubt it. But the funny thing is that Mrs Twit wasn’t born ugly. She’d had quite a nice face when she was young. The ugliness had grown upon her year by year as she got older. Why would that happen? I’ll tell you why. If a person has ugly thoughts, it begins to show on the face. And when that person has ugly thoughts every day, every week, every year, the face gets uglier and uglier until it gets so ugly you can hardly bear to look at it. The adult me is a great fan of dark humour and I do wonder if this budding element of my personality was what responded to The Twits. Knowing much more about Dahl now, the undeniably unpalatable elements of his person such as his well documented antisemitism, make it slightly more difficult to appreciate the dark undercurrents in his fiction. But I definitely found the macabre, sinister and disturbing aspects of his work refreshing. Brodesser, Claude (4 February 2003). " 'Twits' pic pleases Cleese". Variety . Retrieved 21 January 2012. Are you sure my feet are tied properly to the ground?’ she gasped. ‘If those strings around my ankles break, it’ll be goodbye for me!’ And that’s what gave Mr Twit his second nasty idea.Twits are ugly people who do horrible things to each other and others. They are not nice, and they are negative people who have been negative so long that the negativity has made them ugly. Listen to the audiobook version of the story. Could you retell the story using accents and expressions like this? The idea that someone who looks ugly to us is ugly inside too is sufficient reason on its own to cast this book aside. In 2003, The Twits was listed at number 81 in The Big Read, a BBC survey of the British public of the top 200 novels of all time. [2] In 2012, the titular Twits appeared on a Royal Mail commemorative postage stamp. [3] The Twits was adapted for the stage in 2007 and an animated film adaptation, directed by Phil Johnston, is scheduled for release in 2025. [4] [5] Overview [ edit ]

So, as an adult, all I could think of is, " Dahl, what were you on??" Mr. Twit was a twit. He was born a twit. And, now at the age of sixty, he was a bigger twit than ever. The Twits are ugly people - through and through. They think nothing of animal neglect or outright abuse. They are horrible to each other and everyone around them. Information on identifying editions is from Richard Walker’s “Roald Dahl – A Guide to Collecting His First Editions”. The Twits". Vanguard Animation. Archived from the original on 15 April 2012 . Retrieved 21 January 2012. Milligan, Mercedes (18 September 2023). "Welcome to the Dahl House: Netflix Unveils First Look at 'The Twits' ". Animation Magazine . Retrieved 18 September 2023.The Twits, who were once retired circus trainers, continuously abuse a family of monkeys (known as the Muggle-Wumps) that are in their care. Spurred on by their desire to create the first "upside-down monkey circus," the Twits force the Muggle-Wumps to endure grueling training every day by threatening to beat them if they do not submit. Animation had begun by September 2023, the same month it was reported that Jellyfish Pictures was doing animation on the film. [7] Release [ edit ] In April 2022, following Netflix's acquisition of the Roald Dahl company, [6] [7] it was reported that a feature film will be distributed by Netflix, after having previously announced an animated series based on the book. [8] In September 2023, alongside the release of a first-look image of the film, it was announced that Phil Johnston was directing the feature. [7] Animation [ edit ] Dahl's disgust at beards was the inspiration for Mr. Twit. As he stated, he penned The Twits in an effort to "do something against beards". [1] His biographer Michael Rosen recalls the first time the pair met, Dahl leant across to Rosen's son Joe and said of his father's beard: "It's probably got this morning's breakfast in it. And last night's dinner. And old bits of rubbish, any old stuff that he's come across. You might even find a bicycle wheel in it". [1] Flood, Alison (9 January 2012). "Roald Dahl stamps honour classic children's author". The Guardian . Retrieved 18 October 2022.