Roald Dahl fans furious after seeing what Netflix has done to classic Twits story

Bookworms have reportedly been left disappointed this week, following the release of a teaser for Netflix's incoming movie adaptation of Roald Dahl's 1980 children's book The Twits.

For those unfamiliar with the weird and wacky tale told by Dahl, it places 'Mr and Mrs Twit' centre-stage - a vile, spiteful English couple who torment one another with endless pranks.

Despite disguising worms in one another's spaghetti and hiding frogs in each other's beds, the pair do have one passion in common - the keeping of a family of monkeys, the Muggle-Wumps, who are held captive inside their countryside home.

Eventually, however, the academically inclined apes manage to secure their freedom by using glue to make the Twits stand on their heads, triggering death by handstand, essentially.

It might sound rather morbid, but The Twits has long been considered one of British author Dahl's best-loved works, expertly tapping into a child's innate love of rebellion, gross humour and the serving of justice to the nastiest of villains.

Naturally, therefore, upon Netflix's 2021 acquisition of the Roald Dahl Story Company - which gave them control over the rights to Dahl's works - fans couldn't wait to feast their eyes on a visual adaptation of the book.

As such, recent weeks have seen movie bosses dropping hints as to what we can expect from the movie production, including by revealing that Johnny Vegas and Margo Martindale will voice the cruel couple.

Apparently, however, Netflix's prior promise to 'sprinkle some fresh magic into the mix' with the forthcoming production hasn't gone down too well with all literature lovers, many of whom have made allegations of extreme 'Americanisation'.

As opposed to setting the cartoon in the English countryside, the couple will be relocated to an American-esque town, with Mrs Twit said to take on an altogether Texan accent.

The original book is based in the UK (Roald Dahl/QuentinBlake)

As such, some fans of the original are worried that the book's bumbling Britishness will be watered down for the sake of American audiences.

Taking to Instagram, one hit out: "Netflix netflixing again…."

Another simply questioned: "Why are they American?"

A third agreed with the criticism, adding: "It's funny because there is no world in which an American unironically says 'twit'."

Making the same point, a fourth chimed in: "Crazy when the word 'twit' is a British word and only works in British english because literally no American knows what the word means."

Despite this, however, the production's director Phil Johnston has since defended their decision to make the movie version slightly more US-centric than people might have first expected.

The Minnesota filmmaker told The Times this week: "Here’s the controversial statement. Page 46 [of the book, it says] Mr and Mrs Twit go off to buy guns. Is that America or is that Britain? That is America.

The film is set in an American-looking town (Netflix)

"So try to tell me this book wasn’t supposed to take place in America."

Despite his argument, Johnston went on to reveal that he'd actually made the decision to remove guns from the film altogether.

"That level of violence was not something I was interested in," he added, claiming: "If any of Dahl’s books were to be moved to America this would be the one because of that uniquely American moment."