douglas archer (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
superintends) wrote2024-02-13 09:46 pm
superintends) wrote2024-02-13 09:46 pm
Overview
Archer is from the BBC series SS-GB. The show takes place in an alternative WWII timeline where Germany has successfully invaded and occupied Britain.
Currently I'm looking to do some voicetesting on lighter memes (e.g. texting), which could already use a bit of AUing for a character like Archer's to fit. So I'll be setting him in a vague pre-canon period where the war hasn't begun. I will not reference WWII-related subjects in any threads without prior OOC discussion, and agreement from all writers to involve those subjects.
I'd still like to leave a content warning here, in case anyone is interested in the canon. And as Archer is a Scotland Yard detective from the 1930s-40s, even a timeline without the war would still contain violent crimes and dated worldviews. I'll do my best to avoid specific topics if requested. Please feel free to PM or leave a comment (all screened) on this post.
Canon Background
Douglas Archer was born in London sometime around 1910, to a family of new (by the day's standards) wealth. His father was a successful civil engineer, his mother the daughter of a well-known explorer and early race-car driver. Austrian on his maternal grandmother's side, he learned fluent German from his mother, who worked as a governess in Berlin before the Great War. His father died while Archer was still very young. He was given a classical education, graduated from Oxford and perplexed professors and family alike when he opted to become not a politician or barrister, but a policeman. This was largely blamed on his unlikely mentorship by a Scottish detective sergeant, Harry Woods.
Douglas ascended quickly through the Met, aided by natural talent and ambition; though the latter was driven as much by a desire not to benefit unfairly from his upper middle-class status as anything else. Still, sheer luck undoubtedly played a hand in his being involved with several high-profile criminal cases, including the capture of a notorious serial killer, which gained him much attention and accolades from the press. By 1939 he'd been promoted to detective superintendent.
While in his twenties Archer married his childhood sweetheart, Jill. Together they had a son, Douglas Jr., and purchased their own home. After the Battle of Britain began, this house was destroyed in the Blitz, and Jill was killed there, her body buried by the rubble.
When Germany occupied London, Archer did not resist. He had no trace of affinity for the Nazis, but felt the only way forward — for his son, for his city — was to accept and adapt.
WIP
Currently I'm looking to do some voicetesting on lighter memes (e.g. texting), which could already use a bit of AUing for a character like Archer's to fit. So I'll be setting him in a vague pre-canon period where the war hasn't begun. I will not reference WWII-related subjects in any threads without prior OOC discussion, and agreement from all writers to involve those subjects.
I'd still like to leave a content warning here, in case anyone is interested in the canon. And as Archer is a Scotland Yard detective from the 1930s-40s, even a timeline without the war would still contain violent crimes and dated worldviews. I'll do my best to avoid specific topics if requested. Please feel free to PM or leave a comment (all screened) on this post.
Canon Background
Douglas Archer was born in London sometime around 1910, to a family of new (by the day's standards) wealth. His father was a successful civil engineer, his mother the daughter of a well-known explorer and early race-car driver. Austrian on his maternal grandmother's side, he learned fluent German from his mother, who worked as a governess in Berlin before the Great War. His father died while Archer was still very young. He was given a classical education, graduated from Oxford and perplexed professors and family alike when he opted to become not a politician or barrister, but a policeman. This was largely blamed on his unlikely mentorship by a Scottish detective sergeant, Harry Woods.
Douglas ascended quickly through the Met, aided by natural talent and ambition; though the latter was driven as much by a desire not to benefit unfairly from his upper middle-class status as anything else. Still, sheer luck undoubtedly played a hand in his being involved with several high-profile criminal cases, including the capture of a notorious serial killer, which gained him much attention and accolades from the press. By 1939 he'd been promoted to detective superintendent.
While in his twenties Archer married his childhood sweetheart, Jill. Together they had a son, Douglas Jr., and purchased their own home. After the Battle of Britain began, this house was destroyed in the Blitz, and Jill was killed there, her body buried by the rubble.
When Germany occupied London, Archer did not resist. He had no trace of affinity for the Nazis, but felt the only way forward — for his son, for his city — was to accept and adapt.
WIP