It's not all company histories and luxury products. Here's a sample of David Dowsey’s passion projects.

Safe as Houses (play)

Big Ben chimes to announce another king’s speech on BBC radio. But this is no ordinary speech, and this is no ordinary time.

This is November 1940 and, as German ground forces goosestep down Piccadilly, Göring’s bombers pound the West End and the Kriegsmarine surrounds every port, the Royal Family flees Buckingham Palace. 

Thus begins Safe as Houses, a two-act play written by David Dowsey and Simon Plant that reimagines a different WWII had some ‘sliding doors’ opened instead of shut.

When war broke out in 1939, the British Government enacted the Coats Mission, a plan to protect the royals should Germany overpower British forces and seize control of the country.

Commanded by Major James Coats, the scheme involved requisitioning three English country houses that led ever northwards, and an island castle off the Canadian coast, for the royals to inhabit should Britain capitulate.

Hundreds of troops and special vehicles sat ready to defend the monarchy.

With the royals on the run, though, it’s clear something is amiss, and the king and queen’s lives are in mortal danger. Does a traitor lurk in the midst and what parts do the Duke of Windsor and Wallis Simpson play in this tangled web of lies and betrayal?

Safe as Houses takes place at Pitchford Hall, the second secure house, where events conspire to change the course of history and lead to a shocking conclusion.

Safe as Houses premiered at the Melbourne Savage Club in August 2024.

The Long Blue Line (screenplay)

One of the most arid parts of the globe, it had not rained at Lake Eyre for nine years until Donald Campbell arrived.

His 1964 World Land Speed Record attempt was a successful calamity; a nine-month ordeal plagued with problems, the result of unfortunate timing, avoidable mistakes and poor planning that pushed a vast team of engineers, support staff, project managers, journalists, filmmakers, the South Australia Police and the Australian Army, to the limit.

At the heart of the narrative is Donald Campbell, a complicated character of significant bravery and proven achievement, yet he lived in the debilitating shadow of his more successful father, multiple record-breaker on land and water, Sir Malcolm Campbell.

On his last attempt to achieve the record, Donald Campbell knew he faced possible death as he stared down a crumbling salt flat. Yet, confronting financial ruin, a mutinous support crew, vicious media reports, a ticking clock, and his cruel father’s apparition, Campbell climbed into his gas turbine-powered Bluebird CN7 and pointed it down the long blue line and into history.

The Long Blue Line is a gripping story of determination, bravery, and the pioneering spirit of a bygone age.

The Tailoring Detective: Don’t Ask Don’t Tell (novel)

A young boy discovers two young sisters dead in a Melbourne laneway. Nearby, a woman lays brutally murdered in her home. Detectives find the dubious partner of a noted legal firm buried in a shallow grave. His colleague lays under a burned-out car a short drive away.

Who is terrorising a community and murdering its apparently innocent citizens? The bodies have piled up, but the ultimate revenge has only just begun.

The prime suspect, a gambling-addict connected with all the victims, has fled to Buenos Aires with a married woman, but something doesn’t add up.

Operating at this time is a magazine-run scam of a ‘rather sensitive nature’. What has it to do with the murders and why won’t the targets cash their refund cheques?

Enter Handel Lawson, Australia’s finest bespoke tailor and notorious ‘pants man’, and his most loyal client, Lincoln James, a dandy detective with a predilection for custom-made clothes and the inheritance to pay for them.

Over cognac and billiard frames, they solve the country’s most intriguing crimes in grand style. How does Handel Lawson crack the case? Don’t ask. Don’t tell.