016: Sweeny Todd’s nightmare vision — the Vampyre’s return — the Highwayman in a tight spot — an Indecent Proposal — and more! Plus five flash-cant words and a Dreadful Dossier report. Join us!

Join Professor Flash, a.k.a. Finn J.D. John. for a 90-minute spree through the story papers of old London! Grab a flicker of blue ruin, unload your stumps, and let's go!

0:03:45: DREADFUL-DOSSIERS REPORT —

• A 10-minute briefing on how The Barber of Fleet-street; or, The String of Pearls (feat. Sweeney Todd) came to be.

0:14:00: SWEENEY TODD, Ch. 43 —

• We open on Mr. Todd getting a letter from Mr. Fogg, lying to him to tell him Tobias has died. He is pleased, but then he slips upstairs to make sure no one has been in his house. Will he catch Mr. Crotchet there, snooping around? We shall see.

0:28:45: VARNEY THE VAMPYRE, Ch. 5 —

• The Bannerworths are surprised to receive a letter from their new neighbor, Sir Francis Varney, offering assistance in their hour of need. They agree to ignore it. Then as evening falls, they again see the spectral form of their vampire-like visitor skulking about the grounds! They pursue it, pistols blazing. But can it be killed with mortal means? We shall see ...

0:57:30: BLACK BESS (Dick Turpin) Ch. 5 —

• The band of robbers returns to their hut in the wood while Dick Turpin is down below. There are more than a dozen of them, and they know someone is inside. Dick is in a tight spot! Can he escape from their clutches?

1:11:15: SPRING-HEEL'D JACK Ch. 5 —

• Jack’s would-be captor hurries home ... but his wife has locked the garden gate, and is so frightened she drops the key and can’t find it. Will he ever get inside? (You might want to skip this chapter.)

1:22:30: THE BLACK BAND Ch. 5 —

• We rejoin the wicked Lady Edith Vandeleur at a fancy Belgravia ball. One of her admirers, a self-made millionaire industrialist, is about to propose marriage. Will she accept him? What will that mean for Lord Lionel Mountfort, who joined the Companions of Midnight on Colonel Bertrand’s promise that he would be her bridegroom? A storm is gathering ...