City Of Vice (2008)

City Of Vice, Channel 4's gripping historical drama series set in the vice-ridden world of Georgian London takes its bow on DVD when Contender Home Entertainment releases series one on 18th February 2008, shortly after the final episode has aired.

Ian McDiarmid (Star Wars; Sleepy Hollow) and Iain Glen (Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, Kingdom of Heaven) star as unlikely crime-fighting brothers in this gripping new police procedural drama with a difference. Also starring are Geraldine James (Band of Gold), Nigel Harman (EastEnders), Juliet Aubrey (Middlemarch) and Francis Magee (No Angels).

Encapsulating all the excitement of a contemporary crime series, but interlaced with fascinating and eye-opening revelations about the gaudy reality of not-so-polite society in eighteenth century London, City Of Vice uses primary source material (diaries, newspaper reports) to tell the true story of two men battling both the criminal world and the reluctance of the British aristocracy, to create a police force capable of bringing law and order to the streets of London.

In the 1750s, London's perilous streets were run by armed gangs, corrupt Night Watchmen and Thief Takers. However, two Magistrates of Westminster felt it their moral duty to enforce the law but also to build the foundations that now protect the innocent. Brothers Henry and John Fielding (played by McDiarmid and Glen respectively) investigated the lives and crimes of prostitutes, pimps, gamblers and villains in Covent Garden, the centre of London's vice trade. They, and their infamous 'Bow Street Runners' changed history and became London's first ever 'cops'. Henry Fielding is more generally known as the author of Tom Jones, but as this series reveals, his legacy is far greater than that.

This series lifts up the stones of Georgian society and shines a light into its attitudes towards rape, prostitution, gay marriage and the endemic violence on the streets.

Please note - Disc special features are subject to change, may differ from format to format and/or may differ from region to region.