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[[quoteright:330:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/london_of_the_victorian_era.jpg]]

->''"London is a modern Babylon."''
-->-- '''UsefulNotes/BenjaminDisraeli'''

In the Victorian era, from 1837 until UsefulNotes/QueenVictoria's death in 1901, Britain's capital was known as "Dirty Old UsefulNotes/{{London}}". Tens of thousands of horses plied the streets, leaving manure and urine everywhere; houses had reeking cesspools under them that filled the Thames with raw sewage; soot and smoke filled the air; and the [[OminousFog pea soup]] makes it difficult to see, but please — mind your step in Whitechapel...

London's population increased more than fivefold from the start of the century to the end, so it was overcrowded and congested. The poor lived in a WretchedHive of [[IndustrialGhetto slum tenements]], pawnshops, taverns, [[TheOldestProfession brothels]], and {{Opium Den}}s, amidst thieves, pickpockets, soot-faced [[StreetUrchin urchins]] and Cockney [[InnocentFlowerGirl flower girls]]. Merchants sold cheap gin and lurid penny-dreadful stories. The clank of steam-powered machinery from the shipbuilding yards and port echoed in the streets.

The power of the wealthy aristocracy was waning, as middle-class merchants became increasingly influential in London, which was Britain's financial center. For the well-off, sexual morals were prudish and pious (at least when they weren't discreetly visiting a member of TheOldestProfession). Men wore hats and suits and smoked pipes in parlor rooms. Women wore corsets and [[PimpedOutDress poofy dresses]].

Fortunately, if you were in trouble (and the situation was suitably intriguing), Franchise/SherlockHolmes might take your case, especially if there is a hint that the evil Professor Moriarty was involved. Plebes can refer more mundane matters to the bobbies of Scotland Yard — and no, being maimed by machinery in the workplace doesn't count.

Job prospects in the city's sooty factories increased since the Industrial Revolution, at least until 1872 [[note]]The highest employment rates recorded in Britain were in 1872, 1943 and 2018, at 76% of the working age population having jobs. After 1872, employment declined. https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/nationalaccounts/uksectoraccounts/compendium/economicreview/april2019/longtermtrendsinukemployment1861to2018[[/note]] and with late nineteenth century safety reforms, urban jobs, like chimney-sweeping, workhouses, and textile mills weren't ''so'' bad as the during the start of the industrial era (even when run by [[Literature/AChristmasCarol bitter old misers]]). Would you rather be in the poorhouse?

Be wary also of [[Literature/{{Dracula}} wispy men with capes and strangely pointy teeth]], [[FakeFaithHealer spiritualist cultist]] con-artists, escaped convicts, [[MadScientist mad]] or [[Literature/TheStrangeCaseOfDrJekyllAndMrHyde mercurial]] scientists, {{boarding school|OfHorrors}}s, [[MysteriousWaif wide-eyed waifs]], [[UsefulNotes/JackTheRipper serial killers]], and [[Theatre/SweeneyTodd suspect meat pies]]. Also, that strange man you saw might just be your [[LukeIAmYourFather secret uncle's best friend's sister's former roommate's dog]]. All of which is overseen by UsefulNotes/QueenVictoria, whose web of agents seemed to have some connection to every sinister conspiracy threading its way through London streets, assuming she's not in their cross hairs.

This is a trope that is [[TruthInTelevision disturbingly accurate]] at times. The Victorian Era also [[UsefulNotes/VictorianBritain happened in the rest of the country]], of course, but, as we all know, BritainIsOnlyLondon. It (suitably altered) is also the default setting for {{Steampunk}} stories or GaslampFantasy.
----
!!Popular tropes from this time period are:[[index]]
* TheArtfulDodger
* BakerStreetRegular
* TheFagin
* AFoggyDayInLondonTown
* JackTheRipoff
* MysteriousWaif
* OpiumDen
* SherlockHomage
* StreetUrchin

!!The following characters from that period may make frequent cameos:
* UsefulNotes/JackTheRipper
* [[Literature/TheStrangeCaseOfDrJekyllAndMrHyde Jekyll and Hyde]]
* Literature/SherlockHolmes
* SpringHeeledJack
* DerivativeWorks/SweeneyTodd

!!Examples:
[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
* The anime and manga ''Manga/BlackButler'' is set primarily in the Victorian Era, with a dash of AnachronismStew for taste.
* ''Manga/CountCain'', possibly ''the'' Victorian-esque manga.
%% ZCE * ''Manga/DevilsAndRealist''
* ''Manga/EmmaAVictorianRomance'' largely takes place in Victorian-era London, with the titular Emma being a maid-of-all-work who works for a governess. The series is notable for the creator's [[ShownTheirWork meticulous attention to detail]] about the time and place where the story is set.
* ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventurePhantomBlood'' is set in the Victorian Era.
* ''Manga/GoodbyeMyRoseGarden'' is set in England in the year 1900, and several important scenes-- such as Hanako and Alice's first meeting-- do take specifically in London.
* ''Manga/MoriartyThePatriot'' is a ''Franchise/SherlockHolmes'' adaptation set in the late Victorian era (the first chapter in 1866, many of the later ones in 1879, and then a time skip to bring it to 1882).
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Audio Plays]]
* Both ''AudioPlay/ThePrincessThieves'' and its prequel ''AudioPlay/TheChristmasThieves'' take place in an AlternateHistory Victorian London.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Comic Books]]
* The first series of ''Comicbook/TheLeagueOfExtraordinaryGentlemen'' is largely (though not solely) set in the fictional version of late Victorian London.
* ''Comicbook/FromHell'', which is based on the UsefulNotes/JackTheRipper case.
* French comics ''Basil and Victoria'' (and the cartoon adaptation, renamed ''WesternAnimation/OrsonAndOlivia'') follows two orphans making a living by rat-catching on the streets of Victorian London.
%%* The French comic ''ComicBook/ProfessorBell'', by Joann Sfar.
* ''ComicBook/PredatorNemesis''. Ex-British Army Captain Soames is enlisted by Mycroft Holmes and the Diogenes Club to investigate a grisly massacre in an opium den, the killer being identified as "Rakshasa" by the sole survivor. The killer is the same Predator Soames encountered in India years before. Sherlock Holmes is mentioned (Soames is enlisted mainly because Sherlock is "out of the country at the moment", and it's implied that Mycroft is aware of Soames' previous encounter) as well as Jack the Ripper, whom is initially thought to be the culprit by Soames, and is strongly implied by Mycroft to have been killed by the Diogenes Club, but the details of his identity and his exact fate are kept secret from the public.
* ''ComicBook/{{Ruse}}'': The city of Partington is almost exactly like Victorian London, except that it's on an alien planet because it's part of the Sigilverse. In the Creator/MarvelComics version, Parlington is simply Victorian London with a NoCommunitiesWereHarmed name.
[[/folder]]

%%[[folder:Films — Animation]]
%% Needs context * Most of ''WesternAnimation/ThePiratesInAnAdventureWithScientists''.
%%[[/folder]]

[[folder:Films — Live-Action]]
* ''Film/AroundTheWorldInEightyDays1956'' [[/index]]and[[index]] ''Film/AroundTheWorldIn80Days2004'', being based on [[Literature/AroundTheWorldInEightyDays the Jules Verne novel]], start and end in London.
* ''Film/DoctorJekyllAndSisterHyde'' is set in London, like [[Literature/TheStrangeCaseOfDrJekyllAndMrHyde the novel that it draws upon]], although it introduces the Edinburgh-based real-life body-snatchers Burke and Hare, among [[GenderBender other changes]].
* ''Film/FromHell'' -- as with the source comic (see above).
* ''Film/{{Gaslight}}'' is set in London of 1875. The movie won the Academy Awards for Best Art Direction that year.
* ''Film/MaryReilly'' is another derivative of ''Literature/TheStrangeCaseOfDrJekyllAndMrHyde''.
* Instead of the original novel's Paris, ''Film/ThePhantomOfTheOpera1962'' is set in London during the late Victorian era.
%%* ''Film/ShanghaiKnights''
* Many ''Franchise/SherlockHolmes'' adaptations, although almost as many modernize him -- even long before the recent TV treatments. Holmes films made in the 1920s were often set in the then-present day. The Creator/BasilRathbone films started out in Victorian London, then switched to a contemporary setting after a [[ChannelHop Studio Hop]].
* ''Film/TopsyTurvy'', a movie about Creator/GilbertAndSullivan and the staging of their operatta ''Theatre/TheMikado''.
* London is the setting for part of the second and third act of ''Film/TheWolfman2010''.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature]]
* Elizabeth Peters's ''Literature/AmeliaPeabody'' stories start in this period and move through TheGayNineties into UsefulNotes/WorldWarI. But Amelia and her husband (though notably ''not'' her children) retain their Victorian London sensibilities throughout. Most of their adventures actually happen in Egypt, as they are archaeologists.
* ''Literature/AnnoDracula'' is the Victorian Age if Queen Victoria became a vampire.
* The ''Literature/ArcaneSociety'' novels written by Amanda Quick fall into this era, whereas the novels that the same author wrote under the name Jayne Ann Krentz are modern era, and Jayne Castle are futuristic.
* ''Literature/AroundTheWorldInEightyDays'' starts and ends in London.
* Michel Faber's ''Literature/TheCrimsonPetalAndTheWhite'', also adapted for television by the BBC in 2011.
%%* ''Literature/DarknessVisible''
%%* ''Literature/TheDiariesOfTheFamilyDracul''
* ''Literature/DiogenesClub'' stories starring Charles Beauregard, before he became the Old Man to Edwin Winthrop:
** ''Literature/AnnoDracula''
** ''Literature/TheGypsiesInTheWood''
* ''Literature/{{Dodger}}'' and the non-fiction spin-off ''Dodger's Guide to London''.
* ''Literature/{{Dracula}}'': The Creator/BramStoker novel and many of [[{{Dracula}} its adaptations]].
* Ankh-Morpork on the Literature/{{Discworld}} is more like modern New York set in Victorian London, with bits of Renaissance Florence. And dwarfs. And trolls. There are even a few neurotic vampires with hilarious accents.
* Many of the works of Creator/CharlesDickens, to the extent that such settings are often described as "Dickensian." Not all of Dickens' novels qualify, technically speaking, though. ''Literature/LittleDorrit'' takes place in 1826 and ''Literature/ThePickwickPapers'' in 1827-8, in the Georgian Era. Those were published in the Victorian years, though, and at least once Dickens made an anachronistic reference to "Her Majesty" or some other development that had taken place between the time they were set and the time he was writing. He also wrote things like ''Literature/HardTimes'', which is set OopNorth.Those taking place in Victorian London include:
** ''Literature/BleakHouse''
** ''Literature/AChristmasCarol''
** ''Literature/DavidCopperfield''
** ''Literature/OliverTwist''
* ''Literature/TheDollFactory'', a historical fiction novel (and Creator/ParamountPlus adaptation) involving the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood in the run-up to the Great Exhibition of 1851.
* ''Literature/TheEmpireOfCorpses'' takes place in an alternate Victorian era where the Industrial Revolution is powered by reanimated cadavers called "Frankensteins".
* Sarah Waters's ''Literature/{{Fingersmith}}'', published in 2002 and made into a BBC drama in 2005, is a [[spoiler:gay and lesbian]] take on the setting, with dips into the mental health tropes of the era, including a stereotypical BedlamHouse plot and a man after an inheritance.
* The ''Literature/GemmaDoyle'' series takes place here.
* ''Literature/HettyFeather'' is set in Victorian London for most of the first book.
* ''Literature/TheInfernalDevices'', prequel trilogy to the ''[[Literature/TheMortalInstruments Mortal Instruments]]'' series, takes place here.
** ''Vampires, Scones and Edmund Herondale'', one of the short stories of Literature/TheBaneChronicles, also takes place here.
%%* ''Literature/ALittlePrincess''
* Part 2 of ''Literature/LokiWhereMischiefLies'' is set in 19th century London where Loki is sent on a mission by Odin. Many of the descriptions mention how dirty the city is.
* Molly Hughes's ''A London Family'' trilogy does for middle-class London what Flora Thompson's ''Literature/LarkRiseToCandleford'' did for rural England at largely the same time (1870s-90s). Thompson and Hughes even wrote their books at the same time (1930s).
* ''Literature/AMemoirByLadyTrent'': Lady Trent's home base is in Falchester, her LowFantasy world's equivalent of London, and the technology and social attitudes are similar to Victorian ones. Most of the action takes place in foreign countries, though.
* ''Literature/MrWarrensProfession'' takes place half in Victorian London and half in Victorian Manchester.
* Creator/AnnePerry's mystery novels are very conscious attempts to subvert the common Victorian stereotypes, by playing up the tension between facade and the reality of human emotion. When this works, it works brilliantly; however, when it doesn't, the result tends to be lurid melodrama that makes [=LeFanu=] look plausible.
* ''Literature/ThePictureOfDorianGray'' by Creator/OscarWilde
* This is the setting of the majority of the ''Literature/{{Raffles}}'' stories.
%%* Philip Pullman's ''Literature/SallyLockhart'' series.
* Some of the mirror gates in ''Literature/TheStoneheartTrilogy'' lead to this era. Arguably the most important one leads to the Frost Fair, 1888, where it turns out that it's true that "you can't change the past, even if it hasn't happened yet".
* ''Literature/TheStrangeCaseOfDrJekyllAndMrHyde'' is sort-of one of the trope codifiers.
* ''Literature/TheTimeMachine'' and most of its adaptations feature this as the Time Traveler's own era.
* One of the downtime locations of ''Literature/TimeScout''. The two latter books take place during UsefulNotes/JackTheRipper's time of operation.
* A majority of ''Literature/TippingTheVelvet'' is set in Victorian London.
* Literature/UndeadGirlMurderFarce is set at the end of 19th-century London.
* ''Literature/{{The War of the Worlds|1898}}'' centers around the exodus of London at one point. And it's where the Martians die. In 1898.
* The second trilogy of the ''Literature/WelkinWeasels'' depicts a furry version of Franchise/SherlockHolmes--not connected in any way to ''WesternAnimation/TheGreatMouseDetective'' or ''Anime/SherlockHound'', but a [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin weasel]] by the name of Montegu Sylver living in a Victorian London FantasyCounterpartCulture [[WorldOfFunnyAnimals full of furries]].
* ''Literature/TheWitchWatch'' is set here for the most part.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* ''Series/The1900House'' is a short HistoricalReCreation series where a modern (1999) English family roleplay living as a middle-class family in late Victorian London. It was the first on a series dealing with different time periods.
* ''Series/TheBleakOldShopOfStuff'', being a SoundToScreenAdaptation of ''Radio/BleakExpectations''.
%%* ''Series/{{Bramwell}}''
* Though set in the 1950's and 1960's, ''Series/CallTheMidwife'' makes frequent reference to Victorian London, as many of their district nursing patients are elderly people who lived through it. A recurring theme is the horror of the Victorian workhouse, with former inhabitants known to let out a haunting scream referred to as the "workhouse howl."
* ''Series/CarnivalRow'' is set in the Burgue, a Victorian-esque GaslampFantasy city-state.
* ''Series/{{Dickensian}}'', a drama series that brings together iconic characters created by Creator/CharlesDickens in one neighbourhood.
* [[/index]]A not uncommon destination for ''Series/DoctorWho'': [[Recap/DoctorWhoS4E9TheEvilOfTheDaleks "The Evil of the Daleks"]], [[Recap/DoctorWhoS14E6TheTalonsOfWengChiang "The Talons of Weng-Chiang"]], [[Recap/DoctorWhoS26E2GhostLight "Ghost Light"]], [[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E3TheUnquietDead "The Unquiet Dead"]], [[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E2ToothAndClaw "Tooth and Claw"]], [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E14TheNextDoctor "The Next Doctor"]], and [[Recap/DoctorWhoS34E1DeepBreath "Deep Breath"]] have all been set in the Victorian era. [[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E7AGoodManGoesToWar "A Good Man Goes to War"]] has a short scene in Victorian London and two characters from the era are prominently featured. Even knockoffs of Victorian London have been seen: [[Recap/DoctorWhoS23E4TheUltimateFoe "The Ultimate Foe"]] was set in a simulation of Victorian London (long story), and [[Recap/DoctorWho2010CSAChristmasCarol "A Christmas Carol"]] was set in Victorian London InSpace Then the Creator/MarkGatiss-penned episode [[Recap/DoctorWhoS33E11TheCrimsonHorror "The Crimson Horror"]] took us to Victorian ''Yorkshire''.
* ''Series/{{Forever|2014}}'' protagonist Henry Morgan became immortal in 1814, and there are numerous flashbacks. Most notable for the Victorian Era are his wife's reappearance in 1865 and Henry being consulted on the Jack the Ripper case in 1888.
* Given that it concerns UsefulNotes/JackTheRipper, ''Series/TheOuterLimits1995'' episode "Ripper" takes place in London in 1888.[[index]]
* ''Series/PennyDreadful'' a GothicHorror story which uses 1880's London as its default setting. Though later seasons [[UsefulNotes/VictorianBritain branch out a bit.]]
* ''Series/{{Quacks}}'' is a sitcom about four Victorian doctors.
* ''Series/RipperStreet'' is based on the UsefulNotes/JacktheRipper killings.
* ''Series/{{Sanctuary|2007}}'' uses this often in flashbacks to Helen Magnus and The Five, one of whom was in fact Jack the Ripper (rounding out the group were the Invisible Man, Sherlock Holmes, and Nikola Tesla).
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Music]]
* The cello rock band Music/{{Rasputina}} uses imagery from this period in their songs, and their website even claims that the band was created in 1891.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Radio]]
* Radio comedy series ''Radio/BleakExpectations'' parodies this trope up one side of the workhouse and down the other.
* Audio fantasy-adventure series ''Podcast/TheSpringheelSaga'', based on the Victorian urban legend of Spring-Heeled Jack.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'':
** One of the domains of ''TabletopGame/{{Ravenloft}}'', the city of Paridon, aptly enough for a Gothic setting, ''is'' Victorian London, including a UsefulNotes/JackTheRipper {{Expy}}.
** The ''TabletopGame/MasqueOfTheRedDeath'' alternate setting is entirely set in the Victorian Era, and centers on London. One of Ravenloft's domains, Odiare, was taken from Gothic Earth.
* In ''Kerberos Club'' this Victorian society of (super)heroes has its headquarters in London throughout the age. Towards the end of the 1800s it's them that saves the city from an Atlantean attack and a robot uprising.
* The appropriately-titled ''TabletopGame/VictorianaRPG'', from Cubicle 7 Games, uses this setting (with a few fantasy modifications) as a jumping-off point.
* ''[[TabletopGame/VampireTheMasquerade Victorian Age: Vampire]]'' covers the era from 1880 to 1897. London in this era is the standard against which the Kindred measure all other cities--and also a deeply dangerous domain where only the savviest survive its politics.
* ''Victorian Lost'', a historical setting for ''TabletopGame/ChangelingTheLost'', focuses on Victorian England in the 1890s.
[[/folder]]

%%[[folder:Theatre]]
%% Needs context * The ''Theatre/MrsHawking'' series.
%% ZCE * ''Theatre/SweeneyToddTheDemonBarberOfFleetStreet''
%%[[/folder]]

[[folder:Theme Parks]]
* The tourist attraction ''The London Dungeons'' in London has some areas themed this way.
* San Francisco's UsefulNotes/GreatDickensChristmasFair.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* City of Haze and 13th street in ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaPortraitOfRuin''.
* The moments of ''VideoGame/AliceMadnessReturns'' not set in Wonderland are set in Victorian London, aka The Real World for Alice.
* ''VideoGame/{{Dishonored}}'': Dunwall is based on London circa 1666, just after the Great Fire, during the last parts of the Black Plague - timeshifted to the 19th Century.
* ''VideoGame/{{Wizard 101}}'': The world of Marleybone is an {{Expy}} of this mixed with SteamPunk. Oh, yeah, and the people are all [[WorldOfFunnyAnimals dogs, cats, rats, or the occasional frog]].
* The city from ''VideoGame/TheMisadventuresOfPBWinterbottom'' is most likely Victorian London, given the visuals of the place, but nothing is ever stated.
* The setting for ''VideoGame/AmnesiaAMachineForPigs'', sequel to ''VideoGame/AmnesiaTheDarkDescent''.
* The browser game ''VideoGame/FallenLondon'' is set in Victorian London after the city was stolen by bats and buried a mile underground. Victorian tropes abound, as do cameos from {{Public Domain Character}}s.
* ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedSyndicate'' and its companion novel ''Literature/AssassinsCreedUnderworld'' both take place here.
* ''VideoGame/FableIII'' features a fantasy equivalent, along with a corresponding UsefulNotes/VictorianBritain. The city of Bowerstone is right in the middle of an industrial revolution and with your influence you can turn into a WretchedHive or, with a great deal of effort and GuideDangIt, into a thriving metropolis.
* The setting for one of the waxworks in ''VideoGame/Waxworks1992'', where your twin brother is none other than UsefulNotes/JackTheRipper.
* Most of the ''VideoGame/VermillionWatch'' games are set here.
* Everyone in the main scenario ''A New Home'' of ''VideoGame/FrostPunk'' come from here, albeit with a SteamPunk bent, and as of the start of the game displaced north to the Arctic with an added helping of [[AfterTheEnd apocalyptic]] EndlessWinter. The social issues explored in some scenarios of the game, however, very much reflect historical Victorian England, with the desperation of surviving abrupt climate change forcing people of disparate classes to [[TheApocalypseBringsOutTheBestInPeople work together]]--[[AHouseDivided or die ignobly keeping alive old class conflicts]].
* ''VisualNovel/TheGreatAceAttorney'' features this and Meiji-era Japan as its setting.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Comics]]
* ''Webcomic/{{Minus}}'': [[http://www.kiwisbybeat.com/minus25.html This strip]] through time travel.
* The main setting for ''Webcomic/MayonakaDensha'', though also through time travel.
* ''Webcomic/ZatannaAndTheRipper'' primarily takes place in 1888 London and follows time-traveling sorceress Zatanna as she attempts to solve the mystery of Jack the Ripper.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Disenchantment}}'': Steamland, with its entire Steampunk/Dieselpunk aesthetic, looks a lot like Victorian London (but with flying airships and other crazy advanced technology).[[/index]]
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' [[index]]"[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS16E1TreehouseOfHorrorXV Treehouse of Horror XV]]": The "Four Beheadings and a Funeral" story in this episode ''is'' this trope applied to the show.
%% ZCE * ''WesternAnimation/TheGreatMouseDetective''
[[/folder]][[/index]]
----