No sex please, we are historical heroines

The BBC is to screen a documentary by a production company formed to portray historical heroines as “strong women” rather than “sexpots”.

Bettany Hughes, the award-winning television historian, helped set up Sandstone Global to try to counter the “supersexualised” portrayal of women such as Queen Boudicca, Theodora, the Roman empress, and Helen of Troy.

She said many of these women’s real achievements had been overlooked by modern society, which tends to forget the real impact they had on the world in favour of their appearance.

The company’s programme about the goddess Venus, Venus Uncovered, is to be shown on BBC4 next month.