Lucy Worsley Investigates - Season 2
Season 2
Lucy Worsley is back on the detective trail, reinvestigating four dramatic chapters and iconic characters in British history - the Gunpowder Plot, Bloody Mary, Jack the Ripper and the legacy of William the Conqueror's invasion of 1066.
Examining each case in forensic detail, Lucy follows the evidence to uncover overlooked witnesses and victims, new heroes and villains while exploring how the mysteries unlock issues that speak to modern audiences - from the media treatment of female victims, the experience of the poorest in society to the political radicalisation of young people.
Episodes
Jack the Ripper
True crime is often thought of as a recent obsession, but here, Lucy Worsley investigates the phenomenon through one of the world's most infamous serial killers: Jack the Ripper.
She uncovers a story which goes beyond a single murderer and his five victims – Polly, Annie, Elizabeth, Catherine and Mary-Jane - to a burgeoning newspaper industry desperate for readers and a Victorian society that wasn't designed to support the most vulnerable.
With access to rare original evidence, archival newspapers, and expert contributors, Lucy explores how this still-unsolved case fuelled a new sensationalist journalism, which set a template for many of the true crime stories that followed.
The Gunpowder Plot
On the 5th of November 1605, a small group of radical Catholic conspirators, including Guy Fawkes, came within hours of blowing up the Houses of Parliament. In a cellar deep below London's Parliament, Guy Fawkes prepared to light the fuse on the deadly attack. They aimed to assassinate the Protestant King James I and destroy his government in an attempt to restore England to the Catholic faith. Had it not been stopped, this one moment of violence could have changed the history of Britain entirely.
The Gunpowder Plot was foiled, but its remembrance was written into law, and Guy Fawkes Night is still celebrated on the 5th of November. Lucy Worsley investigates what drove this group of men to attempt such an audacious act.
She revisits key moments and locations in the plotter's lives: the city of York, home to Fawkes and other plotters, and Ashby Manor, Northamptonshire, home of mastermind Robert Catesby. She delves into the motivations and mindsets of the Catholic plotters, searching for evidence in their childhoods, the rooms where they secretly met, and where Guy Fawkes finally faced his interrogators. She then consults experts who help contribute to the uncovering of this extraordinary moment in history.
1066
On 14 October 1066, the two vast armies of King Harold of England and William, Duke of Normandy, met on a battlefield near Hastings in southern England to fight for the English crown.
Harold was killed in battle, and William emerged victorious, forever to be known as William the Conqueror. The Battle of Hastings was a pivotal moment in English history, the last time this island nation would be successfully invaded - but one battle did not win the war.
Lucy investigates how William the Conqueror won not just the Battle of Hastings but the battle for England, examining extraordinary firsthand evidence and meeting historians and curators who illuminate this tumultuous period in English history. See what William the Conqueror did after the Battle of Hastings to bend England to his will.
Bloody Mary
Mary Tudor, King Henry VIII's eldest daughter, came to the throne in 1553 and became infamous as one of the bloodiest queens in history. Allegedly executing her subjects at will for their religious beliefs, Mary's reign became defined by her staunch Catholicism.
Lucy Worsley investigates whether England's first ruling female monarch, Mary I, was truly as "bloody" as history suggests, or whether this reputation arose from being a strong woman in a predominantly male world. With access to unique firsthand evidence and expert contributors, Lucy reveals how Mary's reputation was shaped and asks whether our understanding of her life and legacy should be reconsidered.
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