Sofia, I will teach you everything I know about the arts.
[suspenseful music]
[Nell grunts]
- Newgate Prison knew your name. - Why?
- You're going to die, Nelly Jackson. - Sofia?
- Rasselas! Rasselas! - [crowd clamoring]
- The Queen is a traitor. - You are a Jacobite.
The rightful monarch of this country is James Stuart.
This time tomorrow we'll be planning the wedding.
- Or you'll be dead. - Hm?
If the verdict is guilty, they'll hang you immediately.
[Earl of Poynton] The guard will allow me to take the Queen in hand
so James's troops can advance without opposition.
You can end all of this, Sofia, just by telling the truth.
Don't you know what they'd do to Thomas?
- Leave me alone! - [Rasselas] What about Nell?
[Sofia] Go back to her.
[Earl of Poynton] What are the news sheets saying?
- They just say... - Nell Jackson eats babies.
[Polly] The apple doesn't fall far from the tree. People won't believe it.
This will light a fire under her.
[Nell] We are gonna smash the presses up.
People need to know that the truth matters.
- [indistinct chatter] - [rock clatters]
[indistinct chatter]
[ballad peddler whistling]
[newspaper person whistles]
[coin clanks]
♪ Another day the sun doth rise The city stirs awake ♪
♪ But while you slept, in shadows crept, a tale to make you quake ♪
♪ From Queen's own court where traitors hide ♪
♪ To Newgate's empty cells ♪
♪ One name rings out from London's mouth ♪
♪ Nelly Jackson ♪
Or as I like to call her...
♪ Devil Nell ♪
- Ooh! - [barks]
[thudding]
[child gasps]
[tense instrumental music]
[ballad peddler] I said all right, all right, all right.
Listen, you'll get your news, you'll get your news.
- All right. - All right, all right. Take some.
[clamoring]
- Her horn-ed head. - And scaly skin.
- Are plain for all to see. - Are plain for all to see.
- [crowd] But "how?" - ♪ I hear you ask my friends does a-- ♪
- Monster! - Monster!
♪ Monster come to be? ♪
- [whistling] - Nelly! Nelly Jackson!
[people humming]
[humming]
♪ Pa Trotter I was a poacher ♪
♪ Is she penance for his sin? ♪
♪ They say it was the mother who had quite a taste for gin? ♪
- Gin? - Gin.
- Gin! - Hyah!
- [people humming] - [upbeat instrumental music]
♪ Two more were born ♪
[people humming]
♪ The Trotters had ♪
[people humming]
♪ A clutch of daughters three ♪
♪ But hear my take, make no mistake ♪
♪ Them apples fell close to the tree ♪
♪ That's Nell! ♪
[street person 1] ♪ I can't believe it! ♪
[street person 2] ♪ She's scum! ♪
[street person 3] ♪ Devil-made, low grade, scum! ♪
- [kid humming] - [whispering voice] Nell Jackson.
- Nell Jackson. - Jackson, Jackson, Jackson.
- You're a disgrace here. - Jackson.
Nell Jackson.
♪ Now beware the evil in your heart ♪
♪ Unless you want to find ♪
♪ Your children to be rotten through ♪
- ♪ Like Nell and all her ♪ - [child shouts]
♪ Kind ♪
- [people humming] - [child] No denying!
[people continues humming]
[silence]
[indistinct chatter]
Right.
[Nell] George!
What are you doing?
Traitors at court.
Trouble a foot. Godolphin sent to the Tower.
And he will pay for his betrayal with his life.
Godolphin was one.
There will be more Jacobites who wish to see James on the throne.
[Queen Anne chuckles] He's a child,
and will be little more than a puppet for whoever is behind all of this.
You believe there may be more traitors at court?
Oh, I'm sure of it.
Then you cannot stay here.
I won't hide, Poynton.
If your suspicions are correct,
and there are men within the court who wish you harm.
Well, I fear there will be little I can do,
even with charge of your Bodyguard.
Oh.
Your Majesty, the people need their Queen.
Allow me to take you to a place of safety.
Yes.
[♪ tense music]
[George humming] Nelly.
[continues humming]
- Nelly. - George.
[continues humming]
Nelly.
[Nell] Oh. Fuck.
[George humming] Nelly.
- This is the place? - [Nell] Yeah.
- All right, let's go. - [whistles]
Nelly Jackson. It's Billy. Billy Blind.
What are you doing?
Uh.
[Nell] What, what is this Billy?
I've been thinking.
All this smashing up the presses, isn't it sort of playing into their hands?
- Whose hands? - Everyone's.
You steam in there all Nelly Big Boots,
tomorrow it will be "Three-headed Jackson storms the papers."
You've seen how this stuff spreads.
These news sheets are powerful.
They don't mind using people.
Well, maybe we should be
- using them back. - Using them back. Yeah, but how?
Well, I was hoping you'd come up with that.
Billy?
[Nell sighs]
[door opens]
[door closes]
I should've known.
- What? - Moggerhangar.
[Nell] It's Devereux's Mrs. This must be her place.
Oh, Lady Moggerhangar is much more than someone's "Mrs".
[Polly] She's a pioneer of the printed word.
A maverick.
Yeah. That's one word for her.
[door opens]
[whimsical music]
[indistinct chatter]
Wow.
[indistinct chatter]
No, get out! Out!
- I shall have you removed by force. - [Rasselas] You have to believe me.
All right. All right.
- [George] Mr. Rasselas! - Hey.
[sentimental music]
- You been selling stories on us? - No.
- Explains why you legged it. - I didn't leg it. I mean I did.
But not like that. I wouldn't-- I would never sell a story on you.
On any of you.
- Polly Honeycombe. Nice-- - No, Polly.
[Nell] No.
After the madness in the prison, I lost Nell. And then...
Sofia was there.
- [Nell] At Newgate? - Yeah. Well, no. Sort of.
That dark magic? It was her.
- You what? - Sofia.
- She was behind all of it. - [Nell] But how?
There's this posh fella, Poynton,
he's got in her head and well, Newgate ain't the half of it.
They're going after the Queen.
[chuckles]
What?
- We need to speak to Moggerhangar. - [staff] You again?
If you're going to try and sell me some tall tale
about Lord Poynton--
- It's not a tall tale. - Rasselas heard him.
The Earl of Poynton is one of Queen Anne's most trusted advisors.
- [staff] Not a traitor. - I told you he wouldn't listen.
We should go to the palace to warn someone.
You think anyone there's more likely to believe us?
But if it's in the papers, everyone believes them.
We don't print unsubstantiated stories.
- You don't mind printing rot about Nelly. - Nelly?
So, you're Nelly Jackson?
Nell Jackson.
Well, you're the third Nell Jackson I've met this morning.
Though at least she made an effort.
Now, if you'll excuse me. I have a newspaper to edit.
What? Well, hang on.
- [staff] No, I won't hang on. - [Nell] No, but this is news.
[Nell] It's a proper news.
Yes. I cannot print anything without Lady Moggerhangar's approval.
Well, so tell her I'm here then. Because I'd also like a word about this...
[screams]
- [newsroom staff] Whoa! Get down! - About this guff.
About my Pa being a poacher.
Who substantiated that?
[Nell] Eh?
You-- You're-- You are Nell Jackson!
I did say.
- Let's not do anything hasty. - Oh, please. Just don't hurt us.
No, no. No, I ain't gonna hurt no one.
That's the thing. See, it's all a big misunderstanding.
You say you need Moggerhangar's sign-off?
[both mumble]
I'm sure, I'm sure we can make an exception.
No, we'll go through the proper channels.
That way you can tell everyone I'm not how they think I am.
Just fetch your old Mogs for me.
- That'd be lovely. - Mog-- Lady Moggerhangar...
is...
- Is in court. - I can't...
George.
[George gasps]
- Mr. Devereux has been hanged. - No. No.
[staff] Not yet.
Uh.. Actually, uh, we prepare for both outcomes.
[loud sigh]
Should we help him, Nelly?
We'll wait here for Moggerhangar.
She'll have greased enough palms to get him off. Just you see.
Fine.
[people jeering, shouting]
[tense upbeat music]
[shouting]
Hm.
[door creaks]
[door slams]
[indistinct chatter]
To ward off disease.
One can't be too careful when it comes to people.
[door slams]
[soft tense music]
As usual, the victims will represent themselves.
As there are so many in this case,
I understand there is a nominated spokesperson.
Mrs. Miller?
- You speak for the prosecution? - Yes. Your Grace.
My Grace.
Sir!
[Mrs. Miller] Right?
Sir George Horner.
You have been engaged as legal counsel for the defendant?
Yes, my Lord.
[trial judge] Very well.
The jury must now decide.
Guilt or innocence.
Let us proceed.
[Horner] Sir, could I ask you to clarify for us your name?
Charles Devereux.
- [Horner] Of 32 Hanover Square? - Indeed.
Do you go by any other names?
I once had a sweetheart who insisted on calling me "pooky".
[crowd chuckles]
Your guess is as good as mine.
So, you have never used the name Isambard Tulley?
No. For that is not my name.
Though like everybody else, I have heard of the fellow.
So how then, does a respectable gentleman such as yourself, Mr. Devereux,
come to be accused of being
one of London's most notorious highway robbers?
It's Nell Jackson's fault.
[crowd murmuring]
- The murderess, Nell Jackson? - The very one.
You see, I was on my way home to Mayfair.
I'd been visiting friends
and had enjoyed a little too much frivolity.
So, I was just nodding off
when a curious smell roused me from my slumber.
What sort of smell?
It was sickening. Like old meat and cabbage.
- [crowd groans] - Suddenly my carriage screams to a halt.
There is a face at the window.
A hideous woman is pointing a gun at my head.
She bares her fanged teeth as if to devour me there and then.
So imagine my surprise
when she orders me to play the part of her husband.
- [crowd clamoring] - Mercifully, I escaped her clutches.
And it's only after she turns over Newgate to get me back that I understand.
She is obsessed with me.
But I shun her offer of riches and gold, in order that I might clear my name.
For I am no highway robber.
But Charles Devereux.
A gentleman,
and a victim of the very crime of which I stand accused.
Thank you, my Lord. No further questions.
[trial judge mumbling]
[suspenseful music]
[knocking]
- Yes? - [door opens]
- Lady Wilmot. - I'm sorry for arriving unannounced.
No, please.
After you left for London,
Rasselas, the stable boy came back to Broadwater Hall last night.
- He'd been with Nell Jackson. - Did he tell you where she is?
No. He's utterly loyal to her and will return to her side.
But...
I took this.
It's his blood. We can use your pentagram to find them.
You will have the chance to exercise your powers again very soon.
This morning, the Queen made me captain of her Bodyguard.
She is to take up residence at Broadwater Hall.
- When? - Any day now.
[Earl of Poynton] My associates will assemble here today
to finalize the plans.
When can we expect them?
You have told them of my involvement?
While I share many opinions with these men,
I'm sorry to say that a woman holding powers such as yours
is likely to have them quite shook.
We are changing the course of history, Lady Wilmot.
You are destined for great things
[Earl of Poynton] Far greater than this feud with Nell Jackson.
- [Nell] That lying, sour-faced... - Scamp?
Well, I mean I knew she was a piece of work.
I did. But, I mean, Newgate takes the mick.
I mean, what did we ever do besides pay rent to line their pockets
so that she and that wretched brother of hers
can go sit up in that big, horrible house cooking up witchery-pokery with this...
- [Billy] Poynton. - Is it?
And I'm the one accused of being a monster.
Hey. Do you suppose it was Poynton that sent Herne?
[Nell] Seems likely.
And if he can rustle up that brute,
it don't bear thinking about him leading charge of an army.
[Nell] Poynton's bringing war here, Billy.
And it won't be the toffs spilling their guts out on the battlefield.
No, no, no.
The ones who will really suffer
is exactly the ones who will have no say in the matter.
Yeah, people like us.
It won't get to that.
Moggerhangar will print the story.
We'll see to it everyone knows the truth about them.
Yeah? Well, we better had...
for all our sakes. [sighs]
Hope you're feeling lucky, Nelly.
I don't need luck.
I got you.
[Mrs. Miller] Mr. Devereux, do you recognize me?
- I'm afraid not. Should I? - [Mrs. Miller] You should.
Because last July,
you held up a full hackney carriage on the Exeter Road.
You took from me eight shillings, a silver ring,
and a fruit cake I'd made for my sister.
I'm afraid you are mistaken, madam.
[Charles] You see, fruit cake provokes in me most unpleasant effects.
A swelling in the throat, angry pustules.
- Should we test that? - No.
[Mrs. Miller] Right.
[clears throat]
You live in Mayfair?
It was my father's house. I inherited it when he died.
- [Mrs. Miller] And you live alone? - I have tenants.
- What about a job? - I am a landlord. Hence the tenants.
[jury laughing]
And you are saying your name is Charles Devereux?
I think that has been established.
[Mrs. Miller] Devereux.
Devereux. Is that French?
[in French] Yes. My grandfather was French.
[Mrs. Miller] You speak the language?
Yes. My grandfather was a Frenchman. A most esteemed member of court.
[laughs]
- Well, this is just wonderful. - Do you have a point, Mrs. Miller?
Oh, yes.
Do you know what a Jacobite is, sir?
[indistinct chatter]
Of course.
Silly question.
What with recent events, though, perhaps the news didn't reach Newgate.
Let me get you up to speed.
Yesterday, the Earl of Godolphin was sent to the Tower
for plotting with the French to overthrow our Queen.
But he wasn't working alone, was he?
I put it to this court that you,
Mr. Devereux, are a key figure in this plot.
- [Charles] What? - [Mrs. Miller] In fact.
I suggest you should be tried not just for highway robbery,
but for treason.
- This is preposterous. - [crowd clamoring]
A mysterious gentleman type.
No family.
[Mrs. Miller] Your tenants, for I took the liberty of speaking with them,
say weeks can pass without any sign of you.
Where'd you go, Mr. Devereux?
I visit friends.
- Friends in France? - No!
I've never even been to France.
I'm no Jacobite toff. My father was a shoemaker.
- [crowd gasping] - A shoemaker with a house in Mayfair?
[crowd murmuring]
He. I...
A French aristocrat or a cobbler's son? Which are you, Mr. Devereux?
I mean, can we believe a word that comes out from your mouth?
Eularia. Please. There must be something you can do.
It's been fun, Charles.
[door opens]
[Eularia's servant] Go!
- [tense music] - [trial mob jeering]
[sentimental music]
[Earl of Poynton] We'll see who stands where.
- [Nottingham] Well... - [Earl of Poynton] Examine that.
[indistinct chatter]
- [Nottingham] What do you think? - [indistinct chatter]
Thomas.
[intense music]
[rumbling]
[humming]
- [Rasselas] Kidnapped? - [Roxy] Yeah. By players.
Me and Nell had to rescue them. That's how we met Polly.
You have been busy.
I thought when Nell came back without you, we might not see you again.
That you might not wanna see me again.
[chuckles]
But I asked you to be my sweetheart.
[mutters]
[Rasselas] Well, I asked Nell. Did she not mention?
[scoffs]
- No sign of the poisonous old mudslinger? - [Roxy] How could you?
- All right. She's not old. - [Roxy] How could you not tell me?
About our chat in the coffee house.
I didn't not tell you.
- I just didn't tell you. - I'm glad we cleared that up.
[Nell] He left us for dust.
I thought he'd had a change of heart.
Or died.
- Or fallen down a-- - Well, well, well.
- Nelly Jackson, as I live and breathe. - Ah-ha!
I knew she was the real deal the first time I set eyes--
So, you're here to make some quick cash selling your putrid little story?
- We're not selling anything. - We do have a story, though.
[Nell] We want you to print it.
And promise that you'll stop writing lies about Nell.
- Or anyone. - Oh, God, how predictably worthy.
"Nell Jackson's eyes do not burn like the fires of hell,
as previously reported.
They are like stars
casting their celestial light to guide lost souls."
[Lady Eularia] What is this?
- [Polly] Just some ideas. - [Lady Eularia] Bold imagery.
[Lady Eularia] But the voice is certainly engaging.
[Nell] So, you'll print it then?
[Lady Eularia] Of course, I won't print it.
[Polly] But you have to, you have to retract the fibs
you've been printing about Nell.
[chuckles]
Well, let me tell you something, young lady.
However elegantly written, retractions won't sell papers.
[Nell] Yeah, but lies will.
[Lady Eularia] Yes. I print what people want.
- [Roxy] Nell. - People want the truth.
Oh, a moral lecture from a highway robber.
You are a disgusting hypocrite, Nell Jackson.
And I will use every last drop of ink, making sure the whole world knows it.
[whispers] Proper channels my hat.
[newsroom crowd gasping]
Print this story,
or I'm gonna put so many holes in these presses,
you will be grating cheese on them and I'll be on my merry way.
[suspenseful music]
[in Latin] Bring forth no light to the flames but a clear cap.
Bring forth no light to the flames but a clear cap.
[continues chanting in Latin]
- You wouldn't dare. - [Nell] You don't know me.
[loud bang]
Be careful, George.
[Nell groans]
"You're not going anywhere, Nell Jackson."
What?
I said...
[grunts]
[Nell] George, come over here.
[barks]
[snarls]
You are not going...
[in possessed voice] Anywhere.
It's Sofia. It has to be.
[gags, grunts]
[panting]
[tense music]
Get that lot out of here.
[dramatic music]
I know you're there.
Sofia, this isn't you.
- [exclaims] - Ras!
Murderous. Thieving. Louse.
A nobody who killed my father!
Oh, no.
Oh.
[growling]
- Do something, Nelly. Fight back! - [dog yelps]
- I can't. She's a lady. - So are you!
But it's not her doing it. Not really.
No!
[both grunting]
[Nell panting]
[growling]
Do you think you're protecting your brother?
He would never do the same for you.
- Liar! - Liar!
[Nell panting]
[grunts]
[Thomas] She killed him. She shot him!
She murdered my father!
[clerk] Murder!
[Mrs. Oakum] Unnatural creature.
[Captain Oakum] The same fiend
that murdered that poor fellow in Tottenham.
[John] "Magistrate murdered by Nelly Jackson."
- [villager 1] You're evil! - [Lord Blancheford] Your father was caught
poaching.
Don't listen, Nell.
[Roxy] It's all lies!
[villager 2] She eats babies!
[Captain Oakum] She is so hideous to behold
that merely looking into her eyes...
- [clamoring] - [villager 3] She's despicable!
- [villager 4] She's such a... - [clerk] Murder!
[villager 5] ...is said to be you're evil.
[indistinct shouting]
[growls]
[Mrs. Oakum] Unnatural creature.
[George] You need to hear the truth, Nelly!
[grunting]
- [indistinct chatter] - [air blowing]
♪ Everyone is saying stuff about our Nell ♪
♪ Like how she killed Lord Blancheford and how she sort of smells ♪
What are you doing, George? Get down!
♪ But Nelly ain't a murderer Sofia Wilmot's mean ♪
♪ That stinking Thomas shot their Pa and now they want our Queen ♪
George!
♪ With this Jacobite toff Poynton They're cooking up a war ♪
♪ So don't blame Nell She's brave and true ♪
- ♪ And we won't run no more ♪ - [villager] You're evil!
And murdered Lord Blancheford!
- [grunts] - [sighs]
[Nell grunts]
[Nell panting]
[dog barking]
[hopeful music]
[Polly whimpers]
[suspenseful music]
[Nottingham] Why not where we planned before?
[Earl of Jersey] That would be simplistic.
- [Nottingham] Everyone's invited? - [Earl of Jersey] Excellent.
They're all ready.
[Nottingham] Lord Umberland will be very valuable to our efforts.
[Earl of Jersey] We shall have to let the men of Scotland know
as soon as possible.
[Nottingham] Harley's boy is the most trustworthy.
[Earl of Jersey] I will send word.
- She knows. - Good Lord.
Nell Jackson. She knows about the invasion.
She can't.
Rasselas must have... He's told her. Everything.
[Sofia] They're in a newspaper office.
Poynton. What's going on? Who is this wo--
I am talking.
We must act immediately
if we're going to have any chance of success.
Steady on.
Even if Jackson knows, she's a peasant,
a criminal, she's hardly going to be believed.
You underestimate her.
It'll take days to get the troops here from France.
- We need time. - [Earl of Poynton] There is no time.
We take the Queen tomorrow.
[tense music]
Lady Moggerhangar, you must--
- What happened? - Uh, uh, I...
I was overcome. [stuttering]
I was manipulated. I was used.
Who did this? I'll end them.
It was Sofia Wilmot. Her and her brother Thomas framed Nell.
And the rest, it's like George said.
[Rasselas sighs] Poynton and Sofia.
Here we go again.
What? You knew about this?
Hm.
It's all true.
Thought you wasn't in the business of truth.
I am in the business of stories.
And the best stories are most often the ones delivered by real life.
Speaking of which, Devereux's trial.
Oh, you got him off.
But, didn't you?
Not exactly.
Isambard Tulley,
you have been found guilty of all charges and will hang for your crimes.
[sighs]
- Nell! - [crowd gasps]
You came for me.
[upbeat music]
[grunting]
- What? - Stop him!
[trial judge] Guards!
- Stop him! Stop him! - [door closes]
He got away?
Let's get those presses repaired. You, in here.
What? Oh, take this.
Do you mind? Thanks.
We have a position for a new editor.
We-we do?
[editor] Oh.
Fine.
Goodbye. Uh...
[clears throat]
- Thank you. - Bye now.
I'll leave that.
On your way.
But you'll have to prove yourself though.
The hours are long. Three shillings monthly.
You'd pay me? To write?
[knocking]
[knocking continues]
Oh, go on then. If you want the job.
[cawing]
And what does it say?
[cawing continues]
- I, I think she means the note. - Oh.
"Queen Anne is to relocate to Broadwater Hall tomorrow
under the instruction of the Earl of Poynton."
Oh, good, God.
You'll print the story, wouldn't you?
- [George] And then everyone will know. - [Rasselas] There's no time.
Whatever they have planned, it's happening now.
[Roxy] What are we gonna do, Nelly?
We're gonna stop them.
[dramatic music]
[closing theme music]