Sweeney Todd is a fictional character and story, who was best known as “The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.”
What it’s about?
Sweeney Todd is a barber in Victorian London who murders his customers by slitting their throats during shaves. Their bodies are then sent through a chute to Mrs Lovett, who bakes them into meat pies and sells them to the public.
Origins
- First appeared in 1846–47 in a serialised penny dreadful called The String of Pearls
- Who the author actually was is uncertain, however it is often attributed to Thomas Peckett Prest
- This was part of sensational, gothic urban folklore rather than true crime
Famous adaptations
Over time there have been many famous adaptations of the story;
- Stephen Sondheim’s musical Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (1979) — dark, operatic, and very influential
- Tim Burton film (2007), starring Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter
- Numerous stage revivals, films, and retellings
Was he real?
No. Despite frequent claims, there is no historical evidence that Sweeney Todd was actually a real person. He’s best understood as:
- Victorian horror fiction
- A moral tale about revenge, corruption, and urban brutality
