SUFFRAGETTES WITH LUCY WORSLEY
BBC1, 8.30pm Part of the Hear Her season, celebrating 100 years since women were given the right to vote, comes this extraordinary documentary.
It’s something which can seem almost unfathomable now – women, who make up half the population, were simply allowed no say on any of the issues that affected their lives. Their voices were completely ignored and unimportant.
After decades of campaigning on the issue, when it became clear that it hadn’t led to any real change and realising that asking nicely wasn’t going to get them anywhere, a group of radical women knew they had to step things up with deeds not words.
These suffragettes, including the Pankhursts and many others, were prepared to risk everything for their cause – imprisonment, injury and even death.
And they weren’t afraid to use extreme methods to achieve their goal, effectively committing acts of terrorism.
Historian Lucy Worsley presents this dramatised documentary, using the Suffragettes’ own words to bring this remarkable period of Britain’s history to life.