Sweeney Todd is a fictional character who first appeared as the murderer of the Victorian penny dreadful The String of Pearls (1846–1847). In 1979, he was introduced as an antihero in the musical Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street and its 2007 film adaptation of the same name. Claims that Sweeney Todd was a historical person are strongly disputed by scholars, although possible legendary prototypes exist. In the original version of the tale, Todd is a barber who dispatches his victims by pulling a lever as they sit in his barber chair. His victims fall backward down a revolving trapdoor into the basement of his shop, generally causing them to break their necks or skulls. In case they are alive, Todd goes to the basement and "polishes them off" (slitting their throats with his straight razor). In some adaptations, the murdering process is reversed, with Todd slitting his customers' throats before dispatching them into the basement via the revolving trapdoor. After Todd has .. …