City of Vice (2007)

In the mid-eighteenth century London's perilous streets were overrun by notorious gangs, prostitutes, pimps and corrupt night watchmen. Out of this dark underworld, emerged two Westminster magistrates - novelist Henry Fielding (Ian McDiarmid) and his blind half brother, John (Iain Glen). These unlikely crime-fighters organized the infamous Bow Street Runners and introduced law and order to the crime-riddled city. Combining the excitement of contemporary crime drama with the detail of actual historical research, this graphic, five-part series tells the true story of London's first police force.

City of Vice - garbled dialog

This purchase taught us a lesson - don't buy a DVD before you've seen at least one episode. After watching the first two hours, we gave up simply because we couldn't undersand much of the dialog. Some heavy accents, poor audio pick-up and constant background sound effects combined to make the dialog unintelligible about 30% of the time.
Too bad, because the video portrayed the seamy side of London very well. December 28, 2008

CSI: Bow Street

I saw this series elsewhere and just had to add it to my collection. What this series managed to do was show the grubbiness and violence of the early 18th century and offer entertaining stories of the birth of English policing.

It certainly helps to know a little bit of both 1) the situation in London prior to the Fielding brothers and 2) the attitude of the English to the idea of a public police force.

In the years before this series was set the usual method of capturing criminals was to offer a reward. This was done by both the state and private individuals. Private individuals would then produce the criminals and/or the stolen goods in order to receive the reward. The upshot of this was the creation of a system where the people who caught the criminals were often hand in glove with the criminals. The thief takers would also manufacture evidence against innocent individuals if the true criminal could not be found or would give him a sufficiently large bribe. Jonathan Wilde,the self-styled "Thief-taker General of England and Ireland", was the most notorious of this fraternity. He was hanged in 1725 for his more criminal activities.

As for the attitude of the English toward a public police force, they didn't want one. An Englishman's home was his castle and he did not want to be forced to allow an outside force into his home. This attitude is very clear in the first episode and the third.

So the proposed course the Fielding brothers took in trying to track down criminals was very forward thinking and done in the teeth of quite a bit of opposition.

I think the depiction of the London underworld was very realistic. It's probably too gritty for the taste of some, and I admit to wincing at times, myself, but I could not fault the production for being anachronistic. There's brief but not gratuitous nudity. The lighting appears natural. A high quality television screen is needed to pick up the details.

I find the depiction of the homosexual life in London at the time very interesting. It brought to might Diana Gabaldon's Lord John and the Private Matter set a few years later in a similar milieu.

All in all an entertaining series and one that deserves a second season. September 25, 2008

Definitely Vice ....

Having read the Bruce Alexander novels of the exploits of John Fielding, I was eagerly awaiting the release of this series. Whereas, Mr. Alexander was able to hold my interest and still describe the seedy side of London low life, he was not explicit as this dvd series is. The series leaves nothing to the imagination and I do find using my imagination much more entertaining in a movie. I did not care at all for the first two episodes dealing with prostitution and homosexuality but the other 3 were more interesting. I do not know how Hollywood survived for 40 years w/o explicit violence, blood, sex, and unnecessary brutality. All in all, I would say if you like vulgar language along with the rest of the vice, by all means purchase this set. I am sure there are those out there who will say that these offences were indicative of the times but for me it all comes back to that word "imagination." July 13, 2008

Gritty and entertaining

Overall a good production although there were some very dark scenes where it was impossible to see what was happening. Without Ian McDiarmid's acting and voice over it would have been mediocre presentation.

Meticulous historical research gave the show credibility. July 12, 2008

"City of Vice (2007) ... Georgian London Sordid Glory ... Koch Vision (2008)"

Koch Vision and BBC presents "CITY OF VICE:COMPLETE FIRST SEASON" (14 January 2008) (236 mins/Color) (Dolby Digital) --- Splendidly acted this drama is unlike any other it make you feel you are part of the mystery as it tells stories of these crimes --- But also has the makings of other crime dramas such as Cracker and Prime Suspect --- Historical true crime series CITY OF VICE pits magistrate Henry Fielding (Ian McDiarmid) and his brother John (Iain Glen) against the teeming criminal underworld of 18th century London --- The five part series follows the duo's attempts to police the city and rid its streets of prostitutes, violent gangs, and bands of thieves is dark and dusty streets and basic poverty --- But this story brought to life Georgian England, it's not your usual period drama.

Under the production staff of:
Justin Hardy - Director & Executive Producer
Dan Reed - Director
Clive Bradley - Screenwriters
Peter Harness - Screenwriters
Justin Hardy - Executive Producer
Lachlan MacKinnon - Producer
Rob Pursey - Producer
Richard Blair-Oliphant - Original Music

Story line set in the late 18th century, City of Vice tells the story of London's first police force the Bow street runners lead by John (Iain Glen) and Henry Fielding (Ian McDiarmid) --- London is a centre for debauchery with pick pockets, thieves, murderers and prostitutes, plus gang warfare combines the excitement of contemporary crime drama with actual historical events, this graphic, five part series follows magistrate and author Henry Fielding, his blind half brother John and the Bow Street Runners on their quest to clean up the streets of 18th century London amidst a population of prostitutes, pimps, gangs and villains --- Was very much impressed by the filming of the streets in that three dimensional dark style, the general Gothic- feel of depressingly, stifling despair is fantastic --- A great atmosphere! --- The two brothers are great actors and fascinating figures representing morality and justice, one Anglican one catholic, one blind one seeing. Great contrasts and characterization --- BBC and Koch Vision release.

the cast includes:
Ian McDiarmid ... Henry Fielding
Iain Glen ... John Fielding
Francis Magee ... Saunders Welch
Steve Speirs ... William Pentlow
Alice O'Connell ... Mary Fielding
Sam Spruell ... Lord Newcastle
Sean Francis ... Daniel Carne
Peter McDonald ... Tom Jones
J.D. Kelleher ... Quin
Ian Peck ... Talbot
Juliet Aubrey ... Jane Fawkland

SPECIAL FEATURES
1. The Making of Vice featurette

BIOS:
1. Ian McDiarmid
Date of Birth: 11 August 1944 - Carnoustie, Tayside, Scotland, UK
Date of Death: Still Living

2. Iain Glen
Date of Birth: 24 June 1961 - Edinburgh, Scotland, UK
Date of Death: Still Living

Great job by Koch Vision --- looking forward to more high quality titles from the BBC Collection film market --- order your copy now from Amazon or Koch Vision where there are plenty of copies available on DVD, stay tuned once again for top notch releases --- where they are experts in releasing long forgotten films and treasures to the collector.

Total Time: 236 mins on DVD ~ Koch Vision KOCV-6534 ~ (6/10/2008) June 23, 2008

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