City of Vice (2008)

There must be few police forces whose “birth” was as interesting as the Bow Street Runners. City of Vice tells the story of the men behind its creation in 1749 – the brothers Henry and John Fielding – and the type of crimes and criminals they were up against. By telling their story, City of Vice provides us with a different view of eighteenth century London. Revealing information about some of the real characters’s fate and using maps to show us around London, it is a mix of cop show and period drama of a rather dark and sordid nature. Divided in 5 episodes the show deals with prostitution,thieves, organised crime, brothels and every shadier aspect of Georgian London you can think of. But there’s also time for some social considerations; the dirt, the misery, the hunger of the lower classes all that is presented here, and the series effectively mix fact with fiction.

Henry and John Fielding are presented as very determined men, decided to do their best to create a police force to patrol the city, not hesitating to force the hand of those who can help them nor using torture to reach their goals. Whether their concern was to defend the rich and powerful or just about everyone is not always clear but their work was a very positive note to bring order to an almost lawless city. Ian McDiarmid and Iain Glen do a very good job of bringing these 2 men to life and, while not for everyone, we don’t hesitate to recommend this series to whoever wants to know a bit more about life in 18th century London.

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