The Plot Against Pepys

Synopsis

It is 1679 and England is awash with suspicion. Fear of conspiracy and religious terrorism has provoked panic in politicians and a zealous reaction from the legal system. Everywhere - or so it is feared - Catholic agents are plotting to overthrow the King. Now Samuel Pepys, Secretary of the Admiralty, finds himself in a position few people then or now would have expected - charged with treason and facing a show trial and execution. Imprisoned in the Tower of London and abandoned by the embattled King, Pepys sets to work investigating his mysterious accuser, Colonel John Scott, and uncovers a life riddled with ambition, forgery, treason and - ultimately - murder. Using rare access to Pepys' own account of the affair, James Long and Ben Long brilliantly evoke a turbulent period in England's history - and tell the forgotten story of the two most dangerous years in the life of the legendary diarist.