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Based on a true story, TO THERE AND BACK pits the bare-knuckle fighter Tom Sayers against a conspiracy that reaches the top of Victorian society. Battling power and poverty, almost invincible in the ring, Tom can only be broken by love.

England, in the 1830s: The industrial revolution and empire have created an age of violence and exploitation but in some unlikely corners it is also a time of honour.

Throughout his childhood, Tom Sayers blames himself for the death of a little girl by drowning. When he and his friend Arthur travel to London to find work building the railways, he encounters Sarah, a beautiful woman abandoned by her gambler husband. Her likeness to the drowned girl enables her to exert an irresistible hold over Tom.

Reluctantly, Tom is drawn into the vicious world of illegal prize fighting to earn the money he needs to support Sarah’s growing ambitions. He finds backing from Gideon, a wealthy entrepreneur and soon begins to demonstrate the skills that earn his fist the nickname ‘the auctioneer’s hammer’. But he and Gideon make an enemy of the powerful railway baron and fight-fixer Bedford. As Tom’s reputation for courage and honour grows, the sadistic Bedford sets out to destroy Gideon by destroying Tom.

A figure from Sarah’s past enters their lives. Aldridge, a handsome but devious gambler, ‘befriends’ Tom and targets Sarah for an affair, at Bedford’s behest. Finally abandoning hope that Sarah will see through Aldridge, Tom decides to buy back her affections. He takes on the giant American heavyweight John Heenan in the first-ever world championship. The fight is in its forty-second round when mounted police surge into the crowd, wielding clubs and swords. As the injured flee, the fight is declared a draw. Tom is left penniless, his health and heart broken. He dies.

Gideon and Arthur set out to expose Aldridge’s crimes. Sarah’s earlier secret is revealed: Years before, she sold herself to Aldridge to save her husband from jail but the sordid deal became something more. Betrayed again, she realizes how she has wronged Tom. Aldridge has stolen money and is arrested. Covered in shame, Sarah concedes to Gideon becoming the children’s guardian and he takes them to a new life in Australia.

Written by Tony O’Leary