Solomon Coop is a recurring character in the BBC and FX original drama Taboo. He's portrayed by Jason Watkins.
Official Description
"Private Secretary to his Majesty King George, he is known as the whip and cane of the King. He has a network of spies who keep him very well informed, but working for The Prince Regent, has filled him with frustration and contempt." [1]
Background
Solomon Coop is a Machiavellian Private Secretary to His Majesty, who during his career has created a dense network of spies that allow him to be always a step ahead of his opponents. During his career, he has got to come to terms with Sir Stuart Strange and the East India Company.
Appearance and Personality
Solomon Coop is a shrewd man of state affairs that cares a lot about the fate of the Kingdom, even more than the Prince Regent himself. Solomon Coop is sneaky, clever and always has a backup plan, even if the years spent in service of the British crown have made him quite susceptible and arrogant, not to mention his latent aggression that turns up in the heated moments of anger. He is a man who's not strange to brutal violence and does not mind the use of torture, or other unethical means to achieve his aims. Coop does not usually comply with British laws, as an example is torturing prisoners something that was prohibited for 150 years or also giving more power to the King.
Solomon Coop is a middle-aged man, medium height, and stocky build. With fair complexion, he has a round face, small green eyes and reddish hair thinning on the head. He is an elegant man wearing refined and austere clothes, and always wearing the symbols of his rank in society pinned to the jacket, or worn as a necklace in the case of chains and red ribbons of chivalry.
Story
Coop briefing the Prince Regent
Solomon Coop was received by His Royal Highness in one of his parlours to discuss trade and navigation, but Coop was constantly interrupted by the prince with his unnecessary statements about the ink used to mark the points on one of the maps. (Episode 2)
Coop meeting with Sir Stuart
After informing the prince regent about Nootka Sound issue, Solomon Coop paid a visit to Sir Stuart Strange to discuss how the Crown and the East India Company would have ended the matter. The two exchanged bitter words, very careful to veil their threats and insinuations behind a false courtesy. Coop was also very satisfied in informing Sir Strange to be always aware of everything due to the dense network of spies, much more extensive than that in the pay of the Company. Later, Solomon Coop saw a play at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane instructing the woman who offered actresses' sexual services for the spectators, to deliver a letter solely and exclusively to Lorna Bow, otherwise the penalty of death. (Episode 3)
Coop questioning Lorna Bow
Acting on behalf of the Crown alone, Solomon Coop tried to win Lorna Bow's alliance by offering her money and a social position in exchange for Nootka Treaty. Otherwise, would have left that Lorna was arrested for attempted murder. Solomon Coop did this after he had arrested the woman, and having humiliated her tearing her undergarments and given to understand an imminent sexual assault were it not for the sudden intervention of Mr. Benjamin Wilton, entered the cell on behalf of the East India Company's interests. (Episode 4)
During a conversation with the Prince Regent, Solomon Coop suggested to investigate Sir Stuart Strange and the secret manoeuvres of the Honorable Company rather than seeking those responsible for the robbery of stocks of gunpowder. To counter Sir Strange, Solomon Coop received George Chichester, spokesman of the "Sons of Africa," offering the man the opportunity to inquire about the wreck of a slave ship, whose shipwreck is imputed to the decisions of the East India Company. (Episode 5)
Reached at the royal palace by the major exponents of the East India Company Desk, namely Sir Strange, Mr. Benjamin Wilton and Mr. John Pettifer, along with attorney Robert Thoyt, Solomon Coop was cornered by them about the Nootka Sound issue, being soon forced to give in to their demands. Once James Delaney was arrested by King's guards with the accusation of betrayal of the Crown, Solomon Coop presided over the interrogation in one of the Tower of London's cells, ensuring that Delaney was underground tortured in order to snatch from his mouth the names of the other traitors, and then report the findings to the Prince Regent. Unable to extort a confession, Solomon Coop had to yield to James' request for a private meeting with Sir Strange in one of the cells. (Episode 7)
Presiding at the trial of James Delaney, Solomon Coop let out foul language and threats against Delaney in order to extort the names of his associates, but thanks to James' maneuvers and manipulations of the East India Company put in place during the meeting with Sir Strange in a cell, Solomon Coop was compelled to acquit the man. Later, Solomon Coop tried in vain to restrain the Prince's desire for revenge against all those who dared to take action against him. (Episode 8)
Memorable Quotes
- "I just know everything. Always assume I just know."
- ― Solomon Coop to Sir Stuart Strange
- " Mr. Delaney, unless you give up the names of your co-conspirators every single stitch they have just put into your flesh I will pull out myself with my fingernails. Give us the names, or you will be racked! I will squash your balls myself and make you eat the paste. You promised to give me those names."
- ― Solomon Coop threatening James
Images
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Episode Appearances
- Season 1
Notes
- Solomon is a habitual tobacco snuff user, powdered tobacco that is sniffed up the nostril rather than smoked, as shown in the third episode of the first season while he was conversing with Sir Stuart Strange.
- Also during the same conversation, Solomon Coop claimed to have at his disposal approximately two hundred spies scattered throughout the city of London and surrounding area.
- Solomon is wearing a chain with a red ribbon that resembles the chain of the Order of the Golden Fleece. Prince Regent of United Kingdom, later King George IV of the United Kingdom and Hanover, was one of the knights of this order. [2]