Lucy Worsley Investigates
Popular British historian Lucy Worsley turns sleuth to reexamine infamous mysteries. She mounts a thorough investigation into a single event using historical and contemporary evidence and a range of experts to completely reframe the past. Worsley uncovers new victors and victims, challenges our perceptions and provides fresh answers to each renowned mystery.
Princes in the Tower
PBS Western Reserve (WNEO 45.1 / WEAO 49.1):
Thursday, Aug. 3, at 10 PM
Friday, Aug. 4, at 3 AM
Worsley tackles one of history’s greatest unsolved crimes — the supposed murder of two young princes in the Tower of London. Was it their power-hungry Uncle Richard who had Edward and Richard killed? Or were they not killed at all, but simply banished?
Madness of King George
PBS Western Reserve (WNEO 45.1 / WEAO 49.1):
Thursday, Aug. 10, at 10 PM
Friday, Aug. 11, at 3 AM
Worsley delves into the madness of King George to ask what we can learn about how attitudes toward mental health were affected by Britain having a so-called “mad” monarch. She examines recently released royal papers and explores the king’s profoundly tragic personal trauma: the death of two of his young children. She also explores the enormous political pressures on George as ruler at a time of political upheaval.
The Black Death
PBS Western Reserve (WNEO 45.1 / WEAO 49.1):
Thursday, Aug. 24, at 10 PM
Friday, Aug. 25, at 3 AM
For centuries it was uncertain what caused the pestilence of 1348 until a vast plague pit was uncovered in Smithfield, London, in the 1980s. The find revealed the bones of hundreds of victims of the 14th century pandemic. Worsley learns how DNA extracted from the skeletons, now stored in the basement of the Museum of London, enabled scientists to finally identify a bacteria called Yersinia pestis — a pathogen to which the medieval population had no immunity. Exploring the social structure of medieval England, made up largely of rural peasants indentured to landowners, she discovers a rare and remarkable set of documents: the court rolls of the Suffolk village of Walsham the Willows, providing a perfect microcosm of life across the country before, during and after the pandemic.
The Witch Hunts
PBS Western Reserve (WNEO 45.1 / WEAO 49.1):
Thursday, Aug. 31, at 10 PM
Friday, Sept. 1, at 3 AM
We all think we know what we mean by a witch but behind the clichés of pointy hats and broomsticks lies a terrifying history that has been largely forgotten. Four hundred years ago, thousands of ordinary people — most of them women — were hunted down, tortured and killed in witch hunts across Scotland and England. Worsley investigates what lay behind these horrifying events.
