Bow Street Runners - Fiction

Fiction

A fictional Bow Street Runner named Edmund 'Beau' Blackstone is the protagonist of the "Blackstone" series of historical thrillers by Richard Falkirk (Derek Lambert), set in 1820s London and comprising Blackstone, Blackstone's Fancy, Beau Blackstone, Blackstone and the Scourge of Europe, Blackstone Underground and Blackstone on Broadway (see )

Ben Healey writing under the name Jeremy Sturrock wrote seven novels featuring a Bow Street Runner - The Village of Rogues, (The Thieftaker in the US),A Wicked Way to Die, The Wilful Lady, A Conspiracy of Poisons ,Suicide Most Foul, Captain Bolton's Corpse ,The Pangersbourne Murders .

The Bow Street Runners feature in an episode of the popular "Carry On" comedy series—"Carry On Dick". In this episode they are made out to be a set of bungling idiots who are frequently outsmarted by the legendary highwayman Dick Turpin, played by Sid James. The Bow Street Runners are also mentioned briefly and with apparent regard in Charles Dickens' "Oliver Twist".

Andrew Pepper's "The Last Days of Newgate" (2006) describes a fictitious Bow Street Runner, Pyke, who tries to prove his innocence in a murder trial.

Bruce Alexander penned eleven "Sir John Fielding" historical mystery novels. The series, beginning with "Blind Justice" (1994), features a fictionalised "Blind Beak Of Bow Street", ingeniously solving murders, assisted by the Bow Street Runners.

Novelist James McGee has written a series about a Runner named Matthew Hawkwood.

Novelist Jayne Ann Krentz (writing as Amanda Quick) has the hero of her historical novel I Thee Wed (1999, second book in the Vanza series) use them as bodyguards for his fiancee.

City of Vice, a 2008 drama series from Channel 4, depicted the early days of the Runners. Ian McDiarmid played Henry Fielding.

There is also a BBC Radio play "The Last of the Bow Street Runners", part of the "London Particulars" stories.

In the Further Adventures of Doctor Syn from the Doctor Syn-Series by Russell Thorndike one of the episodes introduces a Bow Street Runner who comes to Dymchurch-under-the-Wall to capture the Scarecrow, the notorious leader of a gang of smugglers.

The movie "The Tale of Sweeney Todd" (1998) portrays a young American, Ben Carlyle, who comes to London in search of a diamond merchant who has defaulted on a payment of $50,000 worth of diamonds. Carlyle stops in at the Bow Street Runners' headquarters in search of the man.

The play "Sweeney Todd: His Life Times and Execution" devised by Finger in the Pie (2009) features a fictionalized Sir John Fielding portrayed as a symbol of the enlightenment whose zealous belief in social reform is ultimately undermined by his idealism. (see )

Many historical romance novels i.e. the Bow Street Runners series by novelist Lisa Kleypas which includes Someone To Watch Over Me (1999), Lady Sophia's Lover (2002) and Worth Any Price (2003), features the Bow Street Runners/Magistrates as the heroes in them.

A novel entitled Richmond : Scenes in the life of a Bow Street runner, author unknown, was originally published in 1827 in London, and republished by Dover Publications in 1976. It follows the adventures of the titular narrator Richmond, first his early wandering life, then cases he investigates when he later joins the Runners.

The books The Diamond of Drury Lane by Julia Golding and Sovay by Celia Rees feature the Bow Street Runners in the story.

Bow Street Runners appear in some of the Aubrey–Maturin series novels by Patrick O'Brian. In the novel The Commodore (novel), Parker, a Bow Street Runner, is employed by Maturin and Sir Joseph Blaine to investigate the Duke of Habachtstal.

The song "Be Back Soon," from the Lionel Bart musical Oliver! references the Bow Street Runners.

Sean Russell and Ian Dennis, under their common pen-name “T. F. Banks”, wrote a two-volume "Memoirs of a Bow Street Runner".

A fictional Bow Street Runner called Gabriel Stogumber is a main character in The Toll-Gate by Georgette Heyer.

"Bow Street Runner" is the name of a song by third wave ska band The Nuckle Brothers.