Margaret Evans is a butcher's daughter working in Whitechapel's Butcher Row in the late 1830s.
Her skill with the knife and saw brings her to the attention of an upper-class doctor who
witnesses her carrying out an impromptu amputation of an injured child's leg and he offers her
a position in his Highgate house as a maid and sometime medical assistant. At first all is
well. Margaret likes her employer and as well as learning to make pies worthy of a gentleman
in the kitchen she assists the doctor with medical procedures. But something is off. The
doctor's wife is bedbound her body criss-crossed with surgical scars and the collection of
body parts that float in jars in the surgery seems to be increasing. Then when Margaret
recovers from a debilitating illness only to discover she is pregnant she realises her unborn
child might well end up in a specimen jar alongside several others in the doctor's study.
Arriving in a Mayfair brothel as her pregnancy nears its end Margaret finds friendship and
comfort but realises she's in danger when she sees several of the doctor's freemason friends
visit the bordello. One night Margaret goes into labour and passes out. When she wakes she is
told her baby was born dead and has been taken away to be buried. But an anonymous note pushed
under her pillow tells her otherwise and to come to a pie shop for more information. The
baker Mr Lovett who was tasked with taking her child away tries to extract money from
Margaret but in a scuffle he hits his head and dies instantly. Margaret decides to take over
his pie shop and pose as his widow. Margaret finds she's unable to get any credit at butchers'
shops as her ?husband' owes so much money. Thankfully her upstairs tenant the barber Sweeney
Todd is on hand to pay the bills - though this means she's now in his debt. So when the body
of a man bleeding from the neck falls through a trap door into the shop she's powerless to
do anything about it. Deciding to turn the situation to her advantage she butchers the body
and uses the meat to fill her pies. A symbiotic relationship is formed in which Mr Todd keeps
the clothes and valuables of his victims while Mrs Lovett builds a reputation for making the
tastiest pies in the area. But with so many gentlemen disappearing how long can the situation
endure?
