The Suppression of Vice was originally conceived as the first episode in a four-part comedy-thriller series for television. Each of the four episodes is intended to run for two hours, and features the famous real-life poet Algernon Swinburne in a fictional role as a detective. The real Algernon Swinburne was an eccentric and colourful man who lived on the very edge of respectability – circumstances which lend themselves well to a mixture of comedy and thrills.
Episode one of the series is set in 1867. When one of Algernon’s old school chums is stabbed to death, Algernon is determined to bring the murderer to justice. (This episode was later used as the basis for a novel, The Suppression of Vice, which was published under the pen-name Patrick Read.)
The script of the first episode of the series is available on request and runs to 117 pages in the standard industry format. This script could in principle be shot as a feature film. If you would like to read the script, please use the Contact link. Also available is a 20-page document giving full details of the proposal for a television series, with synopses of the first four episodes.
