Series in which Julian Barnes and Hermione Lee explore the connections between a group of Victorian writers and artists who crossed the English Channel for different reasons.

Examining the differing fortunes of Oscar Wilde and the painter Walter Sickert, who both flouted Victorian moral conventions, during their time in the French town of Dieppe.

At 4am on May 20th 1897, Sebastian Melmoth, better known as Oscar Wilde, arrived at Dieppe Docks seeking refuge following his release from Reading Gaol, but he quickly moved out of town.

Walter Sickert is known as a Camden Town painter but his painter friend Jaques Emile Blanche called him 'the Canaletto of Dieppe'. His long association with the resort began with childhood holidays and included an affair with one of the local fishwives.

Oscar Wilde ...... Simon Russell Beale
Walter Sickert ...... Stephen Critchlow
Arthur Symons ...... Jonathan Tafler. Show less