Which Came First, the Season or the Episode?

My dissertation is divided into two elements.

The first is a reflective analysis of how my career progression allowed me to develop as a writer and how it became an essential element in my research into the Victorian legal system and which later evolved into my creative writing.

The second element is the resulting two one-hour Pilot episodes I have written as the opening for a ten-part high-end television series entitled “Marshall’s Law”.

My dissertation argues that societal friction in England during the frequent financial crises and political volatility experienced between 1883 and 1896 both reflected and shaped the lives of ordinary people who often turned to crime to survive.

The influence of an expanding but often corrupt Police force caused cultural anxiety in a seemingly random and increasingly uncertain world.

We view all of this turmoil from the perspective of a liberally minded young barrister who is just starting his career at the Bar and who does not see compassion as an impediment to progress.

Edward “Marshall” Hall was a unique individual who married his childhood sweetheart Ethel Moon who turned out to be irredeemably promiscuous.

Marshall endured this in the vein hope that his understanding nature would encourage faithfulness. It did not and Ethel became pregnant by an army officer. The consequences of a botched abortion were Ethel’s untimely death, a murder charge against the abortionist and the heartbreak and public humiliation of Marshall.

The research required to write “Marshall’s Law” was extensive and included an in-depth analysis of the social, economic, and political framework in British society and how the consequences of being on the wrong side of the legal system could devastate lives and livelihoods.

My series connects the reality of poverty and hardship with the legal, aristocratic, and political worlds.