During the victory celebrations of World War One, a rising star is found dead in her bed after a suspected overdose.
22-year-old Billie Carlton’s death caused shockwaves across the nation, adding fuel to a growing moral panic about sex, scandal and drugs.
Hosts of After Dark, Anthony and Maddy are joined by Virginia Berridge, Professor of History and Health Policy at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, to explore the path to drug criminalisation in postwar London following the death of Billie Carlton. Together, they uncover the extraordinary history of drugs in Soho – London’s most notorious neighbourhood in the 1920s.
Historic Soho has been brought to life in the new BBC show Dope Girls, which tells the story of Soho when female gangs ran the nightclubs after the First World War. You can watch now on @BBCiplayer in the UK, @stanaustralia in Australia and on @ctv in Canada.
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00:00 The death of Billie Carleton
05:17 Social shifts in the 1920s
07:36 Who was Billie Carleton?
08:33 Actual opium parties
12:57 Were drugs rampant in the 20s?
14:49 Soldiers on drugs?!
17:56 Drugs 101
21:01 The legendary ’43 Club’
21:48 Billie Carleton legal case
24:20 ‘Bachelor girls’
26:13 Racial prejudice in the 20s
28:33 War on drugs
31:35 The Death of Freda Kempton
35:15 Legislation now
36:56 Addiction and glamour
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