ALL KILLER, NO FILLER
This week there’s a look back at female criminals from the Victorian era, a twisty and supernatural drama plus a chance for moments of meditation
LADY KILLERS
TV historian Lucy Worsley shines the spotlight on women criminals from the Victorian era who were often judged more harshly or at the very least differently because of their gender.
Many of them, such as axe-wielding Lizzie Borden and Britain’s first female serial killer Mary Ann Cotton, are so well known for their deeds that their stories seem almost to have fallen into folklore.
So it’s extremely illuminating to hear
Lucy and her colleagues discussing these women from a contemporary perspective, shedding new light on their motives while in no way excusing their crimes.
Sometimes the prejudice of a male jury fell in the women’s favour, such as in the case of Florence Bravo where the men at her husband’s inquest were so obsessed with details of her premarital love affair that they missed her likely motive for his poisoning.
Head to BBC Sounds for a three-minute trailer, giving details of the women featured in the series.
WHERE TO START: BRIDGEWATER
Folklore professor Jeremy Bradshaw is a natural sceptic – fascinated by people’s impulse to believe in the supernatural while refusing to accept any of it as truth himself.
This is a position he obstinately manages to maintain pretty much throughout this twisty podcast despite the many weird things that keep happening in front of him, including mysterious floating lights and a teenager who seems possessed.
To be fair he has a lot of other things to get his head around as the story unravels, beginning with the sudden reappearance of his father’s pristine police badge deep in the forest, 40 years after he vanished there.
Fans of TV drama Supernatural will recognise Misha Collins’ mellow voice in the role of Jeremy.
Great acting from him and a cast including Melissa Ponzio (The Walking Dead) and Nathan Fillan (Castle) make the plot believable –
and thoroughly enjoyable.
WHERE TO START:
In episode one, Jeremy begins to investigate what happened to his father after a lifetime of leaving it in the past.