City of Vice

Credit to IMDB

Some ideas can be lost in the vestiges of time. While I was looking for inspiration for an upcoming assignment, I was watching "Policing London", an Extra History serial about the history of law enforcement in London during the 18th and 19th Centuries. Reading further into it, I was directed towards a TV show called City of Vice, a period police procedural originally broadcast on Channel 4 in 2008.

Taking place in London in 1753, we follow Ian McDiarmid as Henry Fielding. Once an accomplished playwright and the author of Tom Jones, Henry serves as a magistrate for Westminster with his half-brother John, played by Iain Glen. In a bid to curb the activities of criminal gangs operating in London, the brothers assembled a hand-picked team of parish constables led by Saunders Welch (played by Francis Magee). Known as "The Bow Street Runners" after their headquarters at Bow Street Magistrates' Court, they would become London's first organised police force. The show follows them as they solve a different crime each episode, while also trying to convince their sponsors in Parliament that they're up to the task.

The show is mostly presented as a drama, but they also try and maintain a factual element. The grim depiction of London uses a visual style almost reminiscent of Hogarth's painting. Transitions between locations are handled a "travel by map" sequence using a map of London published by John Roque in 1746. As it zooms in, it becomes a 3D model before finally converting to an establishing shot. While the CGI looks fairly cheap, I still think it's pretty neat. The dialogue's pretty good, and the Fieldings are well-established characters. Henry has a great voice as he narrates. While suffering from gout, he tries to crack the cases, but his reputation is also marred by his past as a writer and a scandalous marriage to his housemaid whom he had gotten pregnant. Meanwhile, John is blind, but said to recognise a large number of known criminals from voice alone.

What's a real shame is that there only five episodes. I would have liked to see more, but at the same time, they wouldn't have been able to carry things on; Henry Fielding died in 1754, and that would mean losing Ian McDiarmid, who pretty much carries the series. You can find all five episodes on YouTube quite easily, and I recommend that you check them out.

Happy writing.