Brontë’s Britain With Gyles Brandreth

Channel 5, 9pm Author, wit and veteran broadcaster Gyles Brandreth is now Channel 5’s go-to man for presenting literary documentaries.

After fronting programmes on Charles Dickens, Thomas Hardy and Jane Austen, Brandreth (right) now tackles the story of the Brontë sisters – Charlotte, Emily and Anne. A visit to the town of Haworth in the heart of Brontë Country in West Yorkshire brings their story alive. Here we see the parsonage where the sisters grew up, while Brandreth makes the case for nearby locations being the inspiration for the settings for Emily’s Wuthering Heights and Charlotte’s Jane Eyre.

There’s also a particularly grim yet necessary reminder of how the cruel treatment of women and poor health in the Victorian era – none of the sisters lived long enough to see their 40s – shaped their fortunes. ★★★★★