Bad Bridget
Bad Bridget is a podcast produced by QUB Podcasting Service, exploring the lives and experiences of Irish women who emigrated to America and found themselves in trouble with the law. The series delves into historical cases of Irish female migrants who became involved in crime, drawing on archival research and expert interviews. It sheds light on the social and economic pressures that led these women to break the law, and the consequences they faced. The podcast offers a compelling look at a lesser-known aspect of Irish diaspora history.
Episodes
Bad Bridget: S1E1 - Poverty
Welcome to the Bad Bridget Podcast! Hear how many young Irish girls and women, some as young as 11 or 12, travelled alone to America to escape poverty at home and to earn money for their families. Listen to how the discrimination and prejudice experienced by the Irish over 150 years ago has similar echoes in today’s society.
Bad Bridget: S1E2 -The Sex Workers
Many Irish women travelled to North America, got jobs and sent money home. But perhaps their families did not know where that money came from! Hear about the Irish women who became sex workers, about wrongful convictions and how much family reputation really mattered to some.
Bad Bridget: S1E3 - The Unmarried Mothers
Listen to the stories of girls and women who left Ireland pregnant or became pregnant in North America outside marriage. Some who migrated from Ireland believed their partners would follow them, only to find themselves alone and thousands of miles from home. Hear how for some women having a baby out of wedlock had tragic consequences.
Bad Bridget: S1E4 - The Demon Drink!
The Irish have a long association with alcohol and in this podcast we look at what happened to those Irish women who got into trouble with alcohol abroad. Those who drank to drown their sorrows, the mothers who neglected their children, and groups of women whose drinking on the streets brought them to court.
Bad Bridget: S1E5 - The Murderers
We’ve saved our most sensational cases to the end! Hear about the woman who murdered her neighbour and put her in a trunk to steal her house, the wife who suspected her husband of having an affair, and the Irish serial killer who was the first women in America to be sentenced to death by the electric chair.
Bad Bridget: S2E1 - The Servants
Welcome back to Season 2 of the Bad Bridget podcast! To begin this season we’re talking about a very common occupation for many Irish women (and Bad Bridgets!) in North America – domestic service.
We are joined by Catherine Healy and Andy Urban, who share their expertise on the life of a servant. Listen in to find out how things could go wrong for many servants, as well as the escapades of som
Bad Bridget: S2E2 - The Thieves
Have you ever shoplifted or had your pocket picked? Well let us tell you about some of the Bad Bridgets who were extraordinary thieves. These are some of our favourite Bad Bridgets, from Elizabeth Dillon who targeted mourners at funerals to Little Annie Reilly who traded on her innocent appearance, and of course the infamous Mother Hubbard with her self-styled clothing. These are women who are inv
Bad Bridget: S2E3 - The Lovers
We all love a happy ending … but this rarely happened for many of our Bad Bridgets. Listen in for some tales of love gone wrong. We hear how emigration from Ireland allowed men and women to escape relationships, how some women ended up in prison for adultery or for having more than one wedding, and the lengths some women went to to track down their misbehaving husbands! In this episode, Diane Urqu
Bad Bridget: S2E4 - The Bad Girls
How many of us would have been in trouble if stubbornness was a crime when we were teenagers? Hear about how being stubborn and disobeying your parents in the past could lead to a prison sentence. Elizabeth Alice Clement talks to us about dating in the US city, and the phenomenon of ‘treating’. This episode also includes tales of girls who had criminal records even before they were teenagers.
Bad Bridget: S2E5 - The Revengers (live from Electric Picnic)
Join us live from Electric Picnic, Ireland’s largest music and arts festival, for this live episode on all things revenge. Hear about the women who held a grudge, who fell out with each other (sometimes with tragic consequences), or who sought to retaliate when relationships went wrong. These are women you do not want to cross!
Written and presented by Elaine Farrell and Leanne McCormick.
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Bad Bridget: S2E6 - The Irish
In the last episode of the season we talk about the tricky subject of discrimination, both against and by the Irish. Sophie Cooper details how the Irish got a reputation for drunkenness and violence across the western world, while Deirdre Cooper Owens shares her expertise on Irish women and medical treatment, discrimination and race. And while the Irish were sometimes discriminated against, they c
Bad Bridget: Season 1 Still To Come...Unmarried mothers, the demon drink, and murder...
Enjoy a preview of the next 3 episodes in the Bad Bridget podcast, where we'll be hearing about the struggles and `shame' of unmarried mothers, the impact of the demon drink on our Bad Bridgets and the most sensational crime of all - murders committed by Irish women
The Bad Bridget Podcast Trailer
Bad Bridget, the new podcast telling the untold stories of generations of Irish women who saw their American Dream become a nightmare
In this promotional episode, Dr Elaine Farrell and Dr Leanne McCormick are joined by Derry Girls’ actress, Siobhán McSweeney, to guide you through the laughs, the tears, the prison sentences and the resourcefulness of Irish women in the US over the next 5 episodes
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