Not Just the Tudors

Step into the turbulent heart of the Wars of the Roses and meet one of history’s most formidable survivors: Lady Margaret Beaufort.

A child bride, a teenage mother, and ultimately the mastermind behind the rise of the Tudor dynasty, Margaret navigated betrayal, bloodshed, and political chaos with nerves of steel.

Professor Suzannah Lipscomb sits down with leading biographers Lauren Johnson and Dr. Nicola Tallis to uncover the rea...

Free speech is today more contested than ever before. In many places, differing views about politics, sex, and religion are suppressed and punished. In the West, debates rage over its limits and meaning. Professor Suzannah Lipscomb is joined by Dr. Fara Dabhoiwala to trace the roots of this conflict back to the 18th century, when America embraced the First Amendment, while most of the world adopted a different principle: rights bal...

What happened to the lost colony of Roanoke?

In the 1580s Sir Walter Raleigh set about establishing a permanent English colony on Roanoke Island, off the coast of North Carolina. But within a few years the settlement and its colonists had mysteriously vanished. Ever since, historians and archaeologists have tried to piece together what really happened to the colonists.

Professor Suzannah Lipscomb is joined by archaeologist Professor ...

**Contains accounts of murder and sexual violence**

After an explosion rocked Edinburgh in February 1567, Lord Darnley - husband to Mary, Queen of Scots - was found strangled, alongside a servant. Who killed them? Was it Darnley's rival, and Mary's next husband, the Earl of Bothwell? Could Mary herself have been involved?

Professor Suzannah Lipscomb is joined by acclaimed crime writer Denise Mina to try to solve Darnley’s murder.

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Henry VIII’s commanding gaze, Thomas More’s intellect, Anne of Cleves’ cautious poise; Hans Holbein’s portraits didn’t just depict the Tudors, they defined them. His astonishing realism gave us not just faces but personalities. But how do we truly know the artist behind the art?

Professor Suzannah Lipscomb welcomes back Dr. Elizabeth Goldring, whose groundbreaking research using cutting-edge technology and scientific analysis has un...

St Paul’s Cathedral still dominates the London skyline, defiant, majestic, timeless. Yet, its story begins in the ashes of the Great Fire of London out of which would rise Sir Christopher Wren’s masterpiece. To mark the 350th anniversary of Wren's daring new design, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb is joined by architectural historian Dr. Elizabeth Deans. Together they tell the story of how destruction gave birth to beauty.

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On 5 November 1605, Guy Fawkes became infamous not for what he achieved, but for what he failed to do: kill King James VI & I and bring down the British parliament. But what if the Gunpowder Plot had been successful? How would it have reshaped Britain, Europe and even the wider world? And would Shakespeare have written 'Guy Fawkes' instead of 'Macbeth'?

In this special episode Professor Suzannah Lipscomb explores one of history’s mo...

500 years ago, the fields outside Pavia in Italy became the stage for one of the most dramatic and decisive battles of the Renaissance. Francis I of France led his army into Italy, waiting for him was his greatest rival, Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. Professor Glenn Richardson joins Professor Suzannah Lipscomb to unravel the gripping story of the Battle of Pavia, the rivalry between the monarchs and how their clash reshaped early m...

Professor Suzannah Lipscomb unlocks the pages of one of the most extraordinary diaries ever written. Samuel Pepys chronicled his life in Restoration England — a world alive with plague, fire, war, theatre, and scandal, from the Great Fire of London to his own ambitions, jealousies and desires.

Suzannah is joined by historian Dr. Kate Loveman to explore Pepys’ private reflections and why his voice still feels so modern today.

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Jane Boleyn has long been called the most hated woman in Tudor history. Wife to Anne Boleyn's brother George, Jane served as lady-in-waiting to five of Henry VIII's six wives, and when Anne Boleyn fell from grace, George was accused of incest with his sister. For centuries, historians claimed Jane sealed their fates with malicious lies. But was she truly a villain or just fighting for her own life? Professor Suzannah Lipscomb welco...

In the Early Modern period the boundaries between Christian and Islamic civilisations were far more porous than we imagine: Isaac Newton’s library included Arabic biographies of the Prophet Muhammad; the Tudors dressed in Ottoman fashion; and Europe’s scientific revolution and cultural identity were deeply entwined with Islamic thought.

Professor Suzannah Lipscomb is joined by Dr. Elizabeth Drayson who reveals a Europe built on eigh...

In 16th and 17th century England, the plague and pox, disease and injury were a daily presence. At at time when medicine was a complex interplay of tradition, faith and observation, survival depended not only on doctors and their remedies but also on resilience and community support. Professor Suzannah Lipscomb is joined by Dr. Alanna Skuse to explore how ordinary people navigated the perils of sickness and the diverse healers who ...

Songs have always carried stories of love, loss, rebellion and hope. Professor Suzannah Lipscomb is joined by author Amy Jeffs, illustrator Gwen Burns and composer Natalie Brice to explore the magical, mythical, and mysterious world of traditional ballads from the Early Modern period.

Together, they uncover how centuries-old songs captured human experience, challenged authority and gave voice to universal themes of love, death, fema...

In 17th-century England, women weren’t asked what they believed, they were generally told to obey. But amid civil war, revolution, and religious upheaval, a remarkable group of women risked everything to speak out. They preached, prophesied and published their defiance, surviving imprisonment, and even the Inquisition.

Professor Suzannah Lipscomb is joined by Dr. Naomi Baker to reveal how radical women of the English Revolutio...

King Henry VIII is best known for his tempestuous marriages and his penchant for cutting off people’s heads. But where does fiction meet fact?

In this special episode, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb is joined by a panel of experts to discuss Henry on screen and what those portrayals got right or wrong. Who gave the most convincing performance? Was it Damien Lewis in Wolf Hall, Robert Shaw in A Man for All Seasons, Jude Law in Fireb...

Direct descendants of the Plantagenets were once at the very heart of Tudor politics, yet their story is often overlooked. From Margaret Pole, niece of Edward IV and Richard III, to her son Cardinal Reginald Pole, the family’s fortunes mirrored the turbulent shift from Plantagenet to Tudor rule.

Professor Suzannah Lipscomb is joined by Adam Pennington to uncover the dynasty’s dramatic journey from survival after the Wars of the...

Have you ever wandered through a museum and thought: Why is the Virgin Mary always dressed in blue? Did they really use eggs in egg tempera—and did it make those paintings smell weird? And why, for some reason, does baby Jesus sometimes look like a tiny grumpy old man?

Professor Suzannah Lipscomb is joined by Verity Babbs, art historian and comedian, who is on a mission to shake the dust off art history. They take a whirlwind tou...

In the final episode of her short series on the Habsburg dynasty, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb turns to one of the most fascinating and misunderstood rulers of early modern Europe: Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor. Often remembered—if at all—as the "mad emperor" who withdrew from politics and lost his grip on power, Rudolf’s story is far richer than the stereotype. Instead of governing from Vienna or Madrid, he relocated his imperial...

Professor Suzannah Lipscomb engages in a captivating conversation with award-winning dramatist Liz Duffy Adams about the new Royal Shakespeare production of her play Born With Teeth, which imagines a thrilling collaboration between William Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe. Suzannah and Liz delve into the fiery dynamics of the two men's relationship and the influence of politics on their works.

Shakespeare and Marlowe existed und...