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The premier of Channel 4’s newest drama, City of Vice, started in the fashion of all good crime shows: ‘There’s a body in my bathhouse, Sir!’
City of Vice is a historical drama – something in the way of a period Inspector Morse – which follows the first incarnations of London’s police force, 75 years before the Metropolitan police came into existence. The now infamous Bow Street Runners were a secret crime-fighting gang, set up by real-life novelist-come-magistrate Henry Fielding (Ian McDiarmid), to try and clean up the rotten, vice-ridden streets of Georgian London.
City of Vice is a historical drama – something in the way of a period Inspector Morse .
The inaugural episode follows the Bow Street Runners’ first ever case. In a long-line of brutal killings, prostitute Ann Bell is found murdered in a bathhouse. Once the perilously inexperienced team discover that she is actually not dead – achieved by a good prodding with a walking stick – they begin poking around the brothel where she worked, run by a seedy pimp, Harris, in the hope that when she recovers she will be able to name him as the culprit.
The narrative takes an even darker turn when John (Iain Glen), Fielding’s crafty blind brother, steals Harris’s ‘little black book’, containing the names of London’s loosest ladies. They discover that the names of numerous murdered prostitutes are all ominously labelled as ‘removed’, next to the date of their deaths. When Bell finally dies (due in part to an unnecessarily rigorous interrogation by Fielding), Harris is imprisoned. But, much to the distress of Fielding and the ‘Runners’, another prostitute is murdered. In a sinister conclusion, it transpires that Harris had been allowing a number of wealthy gentlemen with a fetish for violence, a night with some of the older ladies – those which he could afford to lose.
City of Vice is based on real events from London’s past, which not only lends the programme a sense of authenticity, but offers a relatively unseen vision of the city’s history. Despite its factual grounding, City of Vice provides enough drama and dialogue so that it doesn’t feel like a documentary – you certainly won’t feel like you’re learning anything! Overall, although there were some odd moments, including graphic effects which zoom in and out of a map of Georgian London (a little too reminiscent of an archaic monopoly board), the series started boldly. Hopefully, over the next couple of episodes, it will overcome its teething problems and establish itself as a stylish and well-acted drama, which gives the likes of Dick Van Dyke, crime-fighter extraordinaire, a run for his money.
"City of Vice" airs Mondays 9.00PM on Channel 4
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