television reviews
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Further Royal ancestry – twice over this time
Alexander Armstrong, BBC1, Bear Grylls, bigamy, Bruce Forsyth, Canada, cellists, Chris Ramsey, Chris van Tulleken, Claire Foy, Clare Balding, composers, Danny Dyer, Dev Griffin, Emily Atack, Henry III, honours, Josh Widdicombe, Julian Lloyd Webber, katherine Willoughby, Kevin Clifton, Lancastrians, Lesley Manville, Lloyd Webber, musicians, Netherlands, Richard Bertie, royal descent, Scotland, Scouts, Sir Matthew Pinsent, Sir Peregrine Maitland, USA, Waterloo, Who do you think you are?, Xand van TullekenWho do you think you are, the celebrity genealogy show with some surprising results, has returned to BBC1 on Thursday evenings. The twentieth series, of nine episodes, began with Andrew, Lord Lloyd Webber, whose parents, cellist brother Julian and late son Nick were also known to be musically talented, but makes some uncannily similar connections…
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While watching Episode 5, Series 1, of the Sky History series Curse of the Ancients, I saw a report that was devoted to the mid-14th century mass grave discovered at Thornton Abbey in Lincolnshire. Mid-14th century and mass grave usually equals one thing, the Black Death, and this is no exception. What does make it…
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Royal Autopsy, a documentary series dealing with the recreated post-mortems of Charles II and Elizabeth I….
Alice Roberts, autopsies, Bethlem, Bezoar, blood letting, Brett Lockyer, bronchopneumonia, Charles II, Chelsea Physic Garden, clocks, Edmund King, Elizabeth I, emetics, executions, four humours, hair analysis, Hartshorn, Henry VII, James VI/I, John Dee, Jonathan Goddard, malaria, Mary Stuart, microscope, Nell Jones, parotitis, Rainbow Portrait, renaissance, Richmond Palace, Robert Cecil, Royal Autopsy, Royal Society, scars, sepsis, Sir Charles Scarburgh, Sky History, smallpox, Spanish fly, stroke, succession, sugar, syphilis, teeth, toxicology, Wellcome Collection, white leadI confess to having doubts about watching this two-part series on the Sky History channel because I envisaged CGI overkill with odious (but hopefully by then dead) parasites etc., and so I started viewing with the firm intention of stopping the moment it became too horribly wriggly and gory. No wriggles, but the gory…
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The Country House Rescue series (all of them) are hit and miss for those who love all things medieval. But Season 4 Episode 2 is about Chapel Cleeve Manor, near Minehead in Somerset. It is a great 15th-century house with much history and is now in grave need of rescuing. The unbelievably stoic efforts of…
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Oh, is there no end to the groanworthiness of TV documentaries? I found myself watching Blowing-up History, series 8, episode 5, about the Tower of London. (My hand is cupped to my shell-like ear, and yes, I can hear your soaring chorus of groans!) You’re right, yet again it was Richard wot dunnit to…
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“….Ancient Murders Unearthed travels back in time to iconic epochs and cultures to re-tell the stories of infamous and little-known murders, from the Rosemarkie Man, a Pictish man who was killed and ritualistically buried in a Black Isle cave, to Otzi, the ice man who was murdered 5,000 years ago….” “….The series is hosted by Louisiana…
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This enthralling programme has returned, but made a dubious claim in the third epsode. Apparently, Jack Ketch was so hopeless at swinging an axe in a straight line, you would be better off as a commoner if facing execution, because almost anyone could be reasonably competent at short drop hanging, where breaking the subject’s neck…
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The Royals: A History of Scandals
adultery trials, Albert Victor Duke of Clarence, Amy Robsart, animal bones, annulments, Brighton Pavillion, Caroline of Brunswick, Catherine of Aragon, Charles V, Cleveland Street, coronations, corruption, Count Konigsmarck, disappearance, divorce, DNA evidence, Edward VII, Elizabeth I, Ernest Augustus Duke of Cumberland, extravagance, Frederick Duke of York, George I, George III, George IV, Germany, Group Captain Townsend, Hanoverians, Henry VIII, human remains, imprisonment, John Ashdown-Hill, Leine Castle, male brothels, Maria Smythe, More 4, Princess Margaret, Robert Dudley Earl of Leicester, Royal Marriage Secrets, Royal Marriages Act, royal mistresses, royal murder mysteries, Sophia Dorothea of Celle, Suzannah Lipscomb, Sweden, The Royals: A History of Scandals, valets, Victoria, William CecilThis is a four-part series on More4, presented by Suzannah Lipscomb and with a focus on the Hanoverian era. It started with financial scandals, such as George IV’s extravagance and his brother‘s mistress who sold army commissions. The second episode was about sexual scandals and rumours, such as Edward VII’s mistresses and the male brothel…
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Wanted …
Albert Dock, Alice Roberts, ampitheatres, anchorites, Anglo-Dutch Wars, Anglo-Saxon burials, animal bones, Antony Bek, Auckland Castle, Bishop’s Stortford, Blitz, Cat Jarman, chapels, Cheshire, Civil War, cobalt mines, Coleshill Manor, copper, Cornwall, debased coinage, demolition, digging for Britain, docks, Dorchester, Dorset, Edinburgh, Elizabeth I, English Channel, fire, fireplaces, flint tools, forts, Harlaxton Hall, Haverfordwest, henges, Henry VIII, hill forts, Holyrood Park, HS2, Hull, Iron Age, Isabelle German, Islay, jewellery, Lincolnshire, Liverpool, Loftus, Londonderry, matriarchy, Mercia, midlands, Mint, Neolithic Era, Old Coppernose, osteoparosis, Oxford, Peterborough, piermasters, prince bishops, Priories, recolouring, rheumatoid arthritis, Robert Greville Lord Brooke, Roche, Roman baths, Romans, roundhouses, Rutland, Rutland mosaic, salting, Scarborough, shields, sieges, silver plating, South Blockhouse, spiral staircases, Stane Street, Streethouse, Stuart Prior, syphilis, The Anarchy, Thomas Hardy, Tower of London, Vespasian, Victorians, volcanoes, Wessex Archaeology, Western Isles, Wiltshire, York, YorkshireDigging for Britain is back, just twenty hours into the New Year, for series 10 (excluding a few specials). Alice Roberts is still the host, with Cat Jarman and Stuart Prior. The first episode included a Roman road in Bishop’s Stortford, an Iron Age matriarchy excavated in Dorset and a Lady of the Mercians (but…
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