You may well be wondering how a respectable gentleman like me came to paint such scenes... 1731. Searching for inspirations inside London s seedy shadowlands, William Hogarth (Toby Jones) meets the beguiling Mary Collins (Zoe Tapper) in a Covent Garden brothel. The young prostitute soon becomes his muse, and as the artist strives for integrity, he grows dangerously close to his sordid subject. Torn between virtue and vice, Hogarth ultimately finds the spark he needs and creates A Harlot s Progress the series of paintings which brought him fame, wealth and respectability.