Copper

After watching Peaky Blinders the other day, I found another BBC series on Lovefilm that looked interesting; this time it's a BBC America series called Copper from 2012. This is apparently a milestone series for BBC America as it's their first program written specifically written for them, rather than importing an existing show.

Copper is set in 1860s New York and follows an Irish immigrant police detective, Kevin Corcoran, and his squad as they try to keep the peace in the Five Points neighborhood, surrounded by the social and political issues of the ongoing civil war.

From episode one it jumps right into the story and doesn't seem to slow down, building up some great characterisation and ongoing plot threads. Kevin is searching for information on his missing wife and dead daughter, while his friend, Robert Morehouse tries to outdo his father's growing land grab and Doctor Freeman faces the ongoing racism in New York, despite his bravery during the civil war.

For some reason this doesn't appear to have aired in the UK, despite being picked up for season two, and isn't available on Region 2 DVD either, which is a real shame as the three episodes I've seen so far are great. We can only hope that they make an appearance now that season one is available on Lovefilm Instant.

Much like Ripper Street, The Devil's Whore and Peaky Blinders, I'm sure it's rife with historical inaccuracies that will leave Claire (and other historians) shouting at the TV, but I think they are fun and will all be great for IHMN/Pulp Alley/Strange Aeons adventures. 


So. What other historically inaccurate tv series should I be catching up on for gaming inspiration??

Peaky Blinders

Last night I finally got around to watching the first episode of Peaky Blinders, the new BBC2 drama set in 1920s Birmingham. It's the tale of a family gang, the Peaky Blinders, who run a series of rackets around Birmingham and get their name from the razor blades sewn into the peaks of their caps.

I'd not really heard anything about it until after the first episode had aired, so it was a bit of a surprise to find Sam Neill and Cillian Murphy in the main roles and Nick Cave's Red Right Hand as the theme music. Cillian plays the young war veteran and rising star of the Peaky Blinders, with Sam Neill playing the Northern Irish Chief Inspector who has been drafted in to clean up Birmingham's rough streets by a young Churchill.

So far this is something very special. It feels like the writers and director have been paying close attention to what the Americans have been doing with some of their shows over the last few years and decided they could do one better. The cinematography is beautiful and so far there are some great plots kicking off, many of which would fit really nicely into an IHMN game. Roll on the next episode!