Delia Surridge

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Dr. Delia Surridge (a.k.a. Dr. Diana Stanton) is a fictional character from V for Vendetta. In the film, she is played by Sinead Cusack.

[edit] In the graphic novel

In the graphic novel, she was chief doctor at Larkhill Detention Center, a concentration camp run by Norsefire, the dictatorship ruling post-apocalyptic England. Along with Lewis Prothero and Anthony James Lilliman, she performed genetic experiments upon the camp's prisoners, although it is implied that she was unaware of the crueler tortures inflicted upon them.

During her work, she became fascinated with "the man from Room V", who appeared to have gained near-superhuman abilities from the experiments. The man was given special privileges and put in an order for gardening supplies. He then used the ammonia and fertilizers to destroy much of the camp on November 5 and escaped.

Shortly afterward, Stanton learned the full extent of the mass murders Norsefire committed using her research. Horrified and stricken with guilt, she disappeared and applied for an overseas visa which was denied. She then changed her name to "Delia Surridge" and became Chief Autopsy Examiner at the Nose, Norsefire's police department. She became friends with Chief Inspector Finch and sometimes went out with him.

After Lilliman is found tortured to death by a masked terrorist calling himself "V," Finch examines his body and gives Surridge a flower that V uses as a "calling card". She identifies it as a "Scarlet Carson" and then realizes that the terrorist is none other than the prisoner from room V. Finch then leaves her when his DS Dominic Stone reveals that V has killed all of the Larkhill staff except for "Diana Stanton". They then learn that Stanton is Dr. Surridge and rush to her house to save her.

At her home, Surridge is confronted by V, who says that Norsefire's reign of terror was only possible because of her research. V then gives her a Scarlett Carson and tells her that he already injected her with a painless poison. Surridge uses her last breath to apologize to V for her role in his suffering. Finch and Stone arrive shortly afterwards, failing to catch V. However, Finch discovers Surridge's journal and reads it, learning what really happened at Larkhill.

[edit] In the film

Surridge's role in the film adaptation of the novel is very similar, with a few alterations. In the film, she helped Norsefire engineer a bioweapon Norsefire later used to launch a terrorist attack upon London in order to seize absolute power; as in the novel, it is implied that she was unaware of Norsefire's plans for her research. Her relationship with Finch is left out of the film.