The Twits is a 1980 children's novel by British author Roald Dahl. It was first published by Jonathan Cape. The story features The Twits (Mr. and Mrs. Twit), a spiteful, lazy, and unkempt couple who continuously play nasty tricks on each other to amuse themselves and exercise their devious wickedness on their pet monkeys.

Dahl's disgust at beards <!-- not evidence of pogonophobia, a dislike for the popularity of beards at the time was common in Dahl's generation. --> was the inspiration for Mr. Twit. As Dahl stated, he penned The Twits in an effort to "do something against beards".

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. Nine years later, the titular Twits appeared on a Royal Mail commemorative postage stamp. In 2023, the novel was ranked by BBC at no. 87 in their poll of "The 100 greatest children's books of all time". The Twits was adapted for the stage in 2007 and an animated film adaptation, directed by Phil Johnston, was released on 17 October 2025 on Netflix.

Penguin Books has released the book in audiobook form thrice: in 2001 read by Simon Callow, in 2013 read by Richard Ayoade, and in 2024 read by Sara Pascoe.

Overview

The idea of The Twits was inspired by Dahl's desire to 'do something against beards'.

In November 2004, Mark Mylod signed up to direct the feature, while Cleese was attached to star in the film. In October 2006, after the executive/regime changes at Disney, the project moved to Working Title and Universal. By January 2012, the official site of Vanguard Animation stated that Conrad Vernon, the director of Shrek 2 (2004) and Monsters vs. Aliens (2009), would direct the film.

By April 2022, an animated television series for Netflix was turned into a feature film. An animated film, directed by Phil Johnston, was released in October 2025.

Theatrical adaptations

In April 1999, a theatrical musical adaptation by Justin Pearson (general manager and the artistic director of the UK's National Symphony Orchestra) and actress Anne Collis, directed by Michael Dineen was presented at The Questors Theatre in Ealing, West London.

A second production of The Twits adapted by Enda Walsh and directed by John Tiffany was performed at London's Royal Court Theatre in 2015, running from 7 April to 31 May. The cast included Jason Watkins as Mr. Twit, Monica Dolan as Mrs. Twit, Glyn Pritchard as the Monkey Father and Cait Davis as the Monkey Mother.

In 2020, during the COVID-19 lockdown, a theatrical reading of The Twits was performed at London's Unicorn Theatre directed by Ned Bennett and performed by Zubin Varla and Martina Laird. The performance was recorded and originally streamed in three parts over YouTube.

Relations to other Roald Dahl books

  • A monkey named Muggle-Wump also appears in The Enormous Crocodile.
  • A Roly-Poly Bird likewise makes an appearance in The Enormous Crocodile and is also to be found in Dirty Beasts.
  • Certain things within the book, such as Mr. Twit's beard, 'Wormy Spaghetti' and bird pie, appear within Roald Dahl's Revolting Recipes.
  • The birds' descriptions of Muggle-Wump's sanity ("dotty", "balmy", "batty", "nutty", "screwy", "wacky") are the same as those used by the parents to describe Willy Wonka's sanity in Chapter 18, "Down the Chocolate River", of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

2023 censorship controversy

Despite Roald Dahl having instructed his publishers not to "so much as change a single comma in one of my books", in February 2023 Puffin Books, a division of Penguin Books, announced that it would be re-writing portions of many of Dahl's children's novels, changing the language to, in the publisher's words, "ensure that it can continue to be enjoyed by all today". The decision was met with sharp criticism from groups and public figures including authors Salman Rushdie and Christopher Paolini, British prime minister Rishi Sunak, Kemi Badenoch, PEN America,

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References

Editions

  • (audio cassette read by Simon Callow, 2001)
  • (audio CD read by Simon Callow, 2004)
  • (audio CD read by Richard Ayoade, 2023)
  • (hardcover, 2003)
  • (paperback, 2002)
  • (hardcover, 2002)
  • (paperback, 2001)
  • (paperback, 1991)
  • (paperback, 1982)
  • (hardcover, 1980)
  • The Twits information and games