About this programme

Laurence Scott tells the story of Victorian writer of penny-dreadful novels George WM Reynolds, a contemporary of Charles Dickens whose books sold in their hundreds of thousands. Reynolds' graphic depictions of the London poor of the 1830s and '40s led to debate over whether his work highlighted their plight or exploited the public's appetite for romanticised portrayals of squalor. Like Dickens, he was inspired by London and Paris, and the circulation of ideas between the two capitals. A naturalised French citizen, lived there in the 1830s, married, had a child, was bankrupted, and in July 1830 witnessed three days of revolution.