Roger Dascombe

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Roger Dascombe is a fictional character from the graphic novel and film V for Vendetta. In the film, he is played by Ben Miles.

[edit] Graphic Novel

In the graphic novel, Dascombe is Chancellor Adam Susan's chief of propaganda. He is portrayed as a somewhat self-loving character who dislikes Mr Almond (head of the finger at the beginning of the novel). When Almond is killed by V, Dascombe intially dates his widow, Rosemary Almond, who is somewhat reluctant about the whole thing. When V attacks Jordan Tower, Dascombe is set up as a dummy and is killed when the police retake the facility.

In the film, he is not killed by the police (he is not present when V takes over), though they still wound a BTN executive during the raid.

[edit] Film

Roger Dascombe and his assistant, Patricia, watch the latest segment of BTN News.

In the film, Dascombe is the head of the Norsefire Propaganda Division, nicknamed "the Mouth", and is chief executive of the British Television Network. He also helps write news reports and puts the spin on stories.

Dascombe tells High Chancellor Sutler that he is calling the destruction of the Old Bailey, which was perpetrated by a masked terrorist calling himself "V," an "emergency demolition", with the help of spin coverage on the BTN and the InterLink. Later that same day, V attacks the Mouth's headquarters, Jordan Tower, and broadcasts a message urging London's citizens to rise up against the government. When Chief Inspector Finch raids the control booth with a police team, Dascombe records the raid with cameras and later uses the footage in a news segment. A vest of dynamite is found in the control booth and Dascombe defuses it; however, V's proximity to the explosives may suggest that the bomb was not meant to detonate.

Dascombe tries to help cover up the death of Lewis Prothero (host of The Voice of London) by saying he died "of heart failure while working late at night in his office" when in fact V killed him (at first he considers a stroke, but decides that it is "too horrific"). Dascombe also attacks the public with false reports of water shortages, avian flu vaccine hoarders, and evidence linking V to past biological terrorist attacks, which were in fact carried out by Norsefire itself. However, it is shown that the public begins to disbelieve the news broadcasts over the course of the film.

In the film, Dascombe's fate is unknown. However, in the final cabinet meeting (which takes place on November 4), he is extremely nervous when he asks what the Chancellor's contingency plan is should V succeed in destroying Parliament. Sutler replies that if he does, "the only thing that will change, the only difference that it will make, is that tomorrow morning, instead of a newspaper, I will be reading Mr. Creedy's resignation!" Dascombe, Finch, Etheridge, and Heyer are thrown into silence while Creedy looks on, contemplating his deal with V.