Dark London

From dark crimes of passion to shocking tales of grave robbing,gruesome murders, dens of iniquity, Victorian seances andhaunted graveyards - not far beneath London's everday bustleand glitter there has long been a fascinatingly rich underworld ofcriminality, superstition, scandal and macabre debauchery. Explore this rich seam of morbid history, case-by-case, with socialhistorian Dr Drew Gray, a specialist in the history of crime andpunishment. Who were 'The London Burkers', for example, whoseringleader confessed to stealing and selling nearly 1,000 dead bodiesto keen 1830s anatomists? Why were so many opium dens locatedin Limehouse, and how did they become so emblematic of the city'sdebauched side? And why was there so much public panic aboutcrime in Victorian London, and how did the city's notoriously roughprisons, courts, workhouses and houses of correction deal with itsperpetrators? Dark London brings together the history of the city's seamier side, picking out the most scandalous, curious and bizarre aspects toportray London's shadowy and fascinating underbelly.