Aahana Swrup
Season 2 of ‘The Artful Dodger’ introduces a new kind of threat to the streets of Port Victory. After the death of Captain Gaines, a new Inspector, Henry Boxer, arrives in the colony to lead the local police department. As bodies begin to pile up in the streets, each with eccentric surgery scars, stitched up with blue thread, the new officer finds himself with a mystery to solve from the get-go. The Blue Thread Killer operates in the shadows, targets the poor population in the slums of Devil’s Elbow, and clearly comes from a medical background. While this should narrow Boxer’s investigation town, given the presence of only three surgeons in town, Jack Dawkins, Sneed, and Belle Fox, the identity of the serial killer remains an unsolved mystery for a long time. Given the show’s period setting in the 1850s, the possible reality of this mysterious killer is bound to become a point of interest for the viewers.
The Blue Thread Killer is a Fictional Medical Serial Killer
‘The Artful Dodger’ has complex roots in reality as a fictionalized follow-up to the Charles Dickens novel ‘Oliver Twist.’ The story centers around the character of Artful Dodger, the pickpocket, and follows his adventures as an adult, once he has become a surgeon and moved to a colony in Australia. However, save for a few names like the titular protagonist and his surrogate father, Norbert Fagin, no other characters find a direct basis in Dickens’ work. Therefore, most of them, including the Blue Thread Killer introduced in season 2, largely remain works of fiction. Yet, like other historical elements in the show, the character isn’t entirely lacking some period-appropriate context in real life.
In real life, there have been no records of any serial killers identical to the on-screen Blue Thread Killer. Even so, medical murderers, who make victims out of their patients,” remain an actual thing in reality. The most prolific among such killers was Harold Frederick Shipman, an English doctor, who was active between the 1970s and 2000s. In the official inquiry into his crimes, it was concluded that he had killed an estimated 250 people. While many speculated about the motives of his death, citing theories like a desire to avenge his mother’s death, simple pleasure, and more, no conclusive deduction was ever made about his motives. Likewise, there’s also H.H. Holmes, widely considered to be America’s first serial killer.
Though not a doctor, but rather a pharmacist, Holmes is an infamous serial killer from history with connections to the medicine field. While neither Holmes nor Shipman, nor any other serial killer from real life, bears much resemblance to the Blue Thread Killer in ‘The Artful Dodger,’ they provide valuable context for the character in the historical show. In the show, the serial killer is eventually revealed to have a personal motive for his killing spree, wherein he uses his victims as “practice” for an operation he hopes to perform for someone he deeply cares about. Furthermore, there’s an element of pride and vengeance attached to his motives. Ultimately, this makes for a thrilling plotline in the show. Nonetheless, it remains another fictionalized aspect of the narrative.
Read More: The Artful Dodger: Is Belle Fox Based on a Real Female Surgeon?
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