Work with me

Script & Historical Consulting

I offer historical and script consulting for film, television, theatre, audio drama, and fiction set in Victorian and Edwardian Britain or in British India. My research on the nineteenth-century female detective, across British, Australian, and Bengali traditions, gives me a detailed working knowledge of the period’s crime writing, policing, travel, and print culture, and I read English, Hindi, and Bengali. Rates and availability are on enquiry.

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Services

What I can help with

  1. I.

    Script and story notes

    Written notes on drafts, treatments, and outlines that identify anachronisms and suggest period detail without flattening the drama.

  2. II.

    Period research briefings

    Briefing documents on settings, professions, and everyday life, from railway travel and steamship routes to the women who worked as private inquiry agents after the Divorce and Matrimonial Causes Act of 1857.

  3. III.

    Detective-fiction conventions

    How Victorian and Edwardian casebooks, sensation novels, and New Woman sleuths were built, and how Bengali detective fiction adapted and answered them.

  4. IV.

    Colonial India, language, and naming

    Advice on Bengali and Hindi names, forms of address, and vocabulary, and on the social worlds of colonial Calcutta and Bombay.

  5. V.

    Cultural and sensitivity reading

    Reading for the representation of caste, class, race, gender, and empire in colonial settings, informed by decolonial approaches to Victorian studies.

Areas of expertise

Background

  • Doctoral thesis From Brighton to Bombay: Mobility and the Nineteenth-Century Female Detective (University of St Andrews, 2026), on thirteen British, Australian, and Bengali texts from 1863 to 1910; see research.
  • Host of Empire Sleuths, the Empires Collective podcast on detectives, crime fiction, and empire.
  • Former Convenor of the Film Appreciation Society and the Media Cell at ARSD College, University of Delhi (2017–2019), and participant in the 2021 refresher course “Cinema, Society & Education”.
  • Conference papers on the Victorian and Indian female detective, listed on the talks page.

Who this is for

  • Screenwriters, producers, and development teams working on period drama
  • Theatre makers and audio-drama and podcast producers
  • Novelists writing historical crime fiction
  • Game and interactive-fiction designers working with nineteenth-century settings

How it works

  1. 1

    Enquiry

    Send a short description of the project, its stage, and your timeline through the contact form.

  2. 2

    Scoping conversation

    A brief exchange by email or video call to establish what kind of input would be most useful.

  3. 3

    Proposal

    A written outline of the work, the timeline, and the fee. Rates and availability are confirmed at this stage.

  4. 4

    The work

    Written notes, edits, or meetings as agreed, with a follow-up conversation where it helps.

Questions

Frequently asked

What periods and places does she cover?

Principally Victorian and Edwardian Britain and British India, from the 1860s to the 1910s, with particular depth on crime and detective fiction, policing and private inquiry, travel by rail and steamship, and the print culture of colonial Calcutta.

Can she advise on Bengali or Hindi dialogue and names?

Yes. She reads and writes Hindi to native proficiency and Bengali to professional proficiency, and works with Bengali-language primary sources in her research.

Does she work on novels as well as scripts?

Yes. The same historical and genre knowledge applies to historical and crime fiction, and she can read full manuscripts or selected chapters.

How does a consultancy begin?

Send a short outline of the project, the stage it has reached, and the kind of input needed through the contact form. A scoping conversation follows, then a written proposal with timeline and fees.

Start a conversation

Describe your project, its stage, and your timeline, and I will reply with availability and next steps.

Make an enquiry

Also

Other ways to work together

Editing & Manuscript Consulting

Feedback and editing for academic manuscripts, proposals, and historical fiction in my fields.

Research Collaboration

Co-authored work, grant partnerships, events, archival research in India, and digital humanities projects.

Speaking & Guest Lectures

Guest lectures, seminars, panels, podcasts, and media commentary, in person or online.

Online English Tuition & IELTS

Online lessons for non-native speakers: academic English, literature, speaking, and exam preparation.