This Sunday, Academy Award®-winner Barry Levinson and Emmy® Award-winner Tom Fontana’s intriguing and eagerly anticipated new cop drama, COPPER, premieres on BBC America at 10/9c. The 1860s New York-set series follows Detective Kevin Corcoran trying to bring justice in the lawless outpost of Five Points. And, to help you with your immersion in old New York, here’s a handy guide below: Molly Stuart (Tanya Fischer) in COPPER (BBC America)…

The second half of the 19th century was a tumultuous one for Washington D.C., as the Civil War ripped apart the country and actually contributed to the city’s growth: With soldiers coming into the city to defend it and other government agencies needed to handle the war effort, the population grew from 75,000 in 1860 to over 130,000 in 1870. By 1890, there were nearly a quarter of a million residents—the Capitol Building’s expansion…

While today’s news are filled with shocking crimes with awful details, they are as grisly and lurid as they were in the 19th century. Starting this Sunday, August 19, BBC America’s intense new crime drama, COPPER, delves into the underworld of 1860s New York with Detective Kevin Corcoran examining the evil that lurks in Five Points and beyond. Today, through August 21, we’re giving you a chance to exercise your skills of detection and…

While nailing 19th century conventions and language are critical to replicating life in 1860s New York City, the new BBC America crime drama COPPER has another edge: Clothes painstakingly hand-tailored and sewn from only fabrics available at the time. Costume designer Delphine White led the design and production of “600 dresses, frock coats and union suits” for the show. But it’s not all meticulous reproduction and corsets—find out what Mick Jagger and Robert Mapplethorpe…

Ever wonder what this website would look like if it were written in the 1860s? Well, first of all, it’d probably only be a weekly, and when we complained about the cost of mass transit, we’d be talking pennies a ride! Anyway, back then, more than 814,000 people were living in New York City’s Manhattan, many in the slums of Five Points, with communities starting to emerge in the wilderness above 42nd Street. Click…

Known for groundbreaking television like Homicide: Life On The Streets and OZ, acclaimed writer-producer Tom Fontana has, with Oscar-winning director Barry Levinson, now developed a crime show about his own hometown, New York City. Of course, Fontana’s and Levinson’s approach in BBC America’s COPPER is to look at the Big Apple in the real bad old days—the 1860s, when it was a given that crooks ran wild and the government was corrupt—how things change….

In the midst of the Civil War, Congress passed a law to draft men to fight in the conflict. While the wealthy could pay $300 to hire a substitute to fight instead, New York’s Irish working class, many of them already worried about competition from black laborers, was left to face the prospect of going into the battle. And then tensions boiled over into what ultimately became New York City’s deadliest clash. The Civil…