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Sean Baker

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Alison Pettit

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Jude Akuwudike

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Scott Cherry

Gregory Evans

Marion Nancarrow

Drama on 4: Tetherdown

Drama: Classic & Period

Drama: Crime

Tetherdown

06/08/2010

BBC Radio 4 - Drama on 4, Tetherdown

Scott Cherry and Gregory Evans' play revisits a scandalous Victorian crime.

Fast-paced drama by Scott Cherry and Gregory Evans which casts a 21st-century eye over the 1896 'Muswell Hill Murder', a crime that captured the appalled attention of the world.

The place: London. 
The threat of terrorism - imported and home-grown - hangs in the air. A recession bites. Fresh crimes of violence are reported daily, with Londoners torn between fascination and fear, and the police struggling to retain the confidence of the public. 
The year: 1896.
In the well-heeled suburb of Muswell Hill, Henry Smith, a retired engineer, is found tied-up and beaten to death in his own home. Scotland Yard detectives are on the scene within the hour, but their investigations are hampered by judges and politicians, who refuse to recognise the latest breakthrough in forensic science: fingerprints. "The British policeman," says a high court judge," must depend on his customary tenacity and ingenuity." 
As the detectives identify suspects, and launch a nationwide manhunt, news of the crimes goes global, with reports in newspapers as far apart as the USA and New Zealand. 
Tetherdown (the name of the road where the murder took place) is a fast-moving play by Scott Cherry and Gregory Evans which views these tragic events of over a century ago through the prism of the 20th century. Every character is based on a real person connected to the case.

Nicholas Woodeson (Great Expectations; Conspiracy; Red Riding) stars as Detective Constable Burrell. 

Director: Marion Nancarrow.

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