Michael Godfrey, nicknamed Godders, is a main character in the BBC One and FX original drama Taboo, portrayed by Edward Hogg.
Official Description
"Honourable East India Company clerk for the last twelve years. Godders has witnessed all words exchanged at formal Company meetings, recording everything but those words spoken under a raised hand."[1]
Background
Michael Godfrey is a former seminary classmate of James Delaney, secretly in love with him since his teenage years. Twelve years prior James Delaney's return to London, Godfrey began working as a clerk for the East India Company. Probably at about the same period, Godfrey secretly rented a room in a Molly house in London, watching the orgies and feasts organised there while wearing women's dresses on the sidelines.
Appearance and Personality
Michael Godfrey is a sensitive and shy young man, with a calm voice that betrays a certain fear of the world around him. Godfrey is lanky, with a fair complexion, green eyes, and wavy brown hair. He hides his homosexuality, illegal at the time, trying to find acceptance in squalid brothels where he wears women's clothes and a wig.
History
Michael Godfrey attended, as a clerk at the meeting at the headquarters of the East India Company in London when attorney Robert Thoyt put the order aware of the return of James Delaney. Later, when the latter was invited by the Society for an informal meeting to a discussion about Delaney's legacy, Godfrey and Delaney exchanged a fleeting glance. (Episode 1)
During one of the meetings, Godfrey was invited by Sir Strange to read the topics the agenda when the members of the company proved to be unaware of the reasons for the meeting had not been paying attention. The young man obeyed immediately, albeit hesitantly. (Episode 2)
Dressed in women's clothes, Godders witnessed a pantomime in a brothel for men only, rejecting the attentions of a couple of customers claiming to be already reserved. Is just after he refused yet another customer that Godders saw James Delaney on the threshold of the room; Terrified, he sought refuge in the adjoining bedroom where a rich man was being spanked by a cross-dressing prostitute. James followed Godders just in time to lure the young clerk in a more secluded spot. The two fleetingly remembered their past friendship at the seminary, when Godders was secretly in love with him. Unfazed by this, James offered Godders a pound a week if he had reported to him all the plans of East India Company. Godders was hesitant, afraid of what might have happened if he had been discovered, but Delaney was able to persuade him. (Episode 3)
Godfrey was visited by James in search of information, and the young man adjourned Delaney about the trafficking of gunpowder. Holding hands, Godfrey expressed concern about what the Crown and the East India Company would do to those around James, in retaliation. James dismissed Godfrey's concerns, insulting him. (Episode 4)
Godfrey is briefly seen at his desk during the extraordinary meeting of the East India Company's Desk, but Sir Strange motioned do not write down what was said during the meeting. (Episode 5)
Having discovered that James had been betrayed by one of his, Godfrey rushed to Delaney Mansion to inform his friend, but James told him to go home so they were not seen together. Following the destruction of James' ship, James became enraged with Godfrey because of such a move of the Company, even pointing a knife at his throat at the brothel, leaving the lad scared before going away furiously. (Episode 6)
Godfrey was present when Helga von Hinten and Pearl testified against James Delaney before the East India Company Desk, and as soon as he had the chance, he immediately rushed to Delaney mansion to warn James about what had happened. Godfrey was convinced by James to help him with George Chichester, pretending to be prepared to testify to the detriment of Sir Stuart Strange for the Royal Commission led by Chichester who was investigating the sinking of a slave ship. Urged to collect his belongings and go to Atticus while James was trying to unravel the latest tasks necessary before sailing for America, Godfrey, wrapped in a long cloak and wearing women's clothes, left London aboard a small boat along with Martinez. (Episode 7)
After being carried to safety by Martinez at the Dolphin Inn, where he remained under the care of Atticus, Godfrey waited with the rest of the group that James was released from imprisonment and, if this was not the case, to hand over incriminating documents about Sir Strange to Mr Chichester so they could be used for the investigation of the Royal Commission. During the fight with the King's guards, Godfrey ran toward the ship with Lorna Bow, Helga, Pearl and other vulnerable members of the crew. Later, once set sail towards the open sea, Godfrey comforted George Cholmondeley, severely burned after an explosion during combat. (Episode 8)
Memorable Quotes
- Godders: You know, at the seminary, I was in love with you. Of course, you do.
- James Delaney: And there was I thinking that we were just brothers in arms. Didn’t we share a bed sometimes in the great hall?
- Godders: It was torture. Exquisite.
- ― Remembering old school time
Images
Episode Appearances
- Season 1
Notes
- He is secretly in love with James Delaney from the days when they were classmates. Although James does not reciprocate this sentiment, he was aware of the feelings of his friend.
- Despite Godders' presence at the molly house, in the episodes in which he was shown at the brothel, he was never intimately involved with clients. Indeed, in Episode 3 he deliberately rejects the sexual advances of a customer, giving rise to the assumption that he was not a prostitute but simply looking for a place to be freely himself.