Lady Killers with Lucy Worsley
Lucy Worsley investigates women from the past who were put on trial, offering a feminist perspective on their stories. The podcast reexamines historical cases and the societal attitudes that shaped them. Each episode delves into the lives and trials of these women, challenging traditional narratives.
Episodes
Ladies in Court
Lucy Worsley presents – Lady on Trial, a series in which courtroom drama meets history with a twist.Lucy and her all-female team of detectives are re-opening court cases from the past - sensational trials dating from 1776 to 1944 - to see what justice looked like for women. We’ve met female defendants who have been judged, scrutinised, and silenced.Lucy is joined by historian Professor Rosalind C
Lucy Meares and Sophia Richards - Transported Sisters
Lucy Worsley presents a brand new series – Lady on Trial, where courtroom drama meets history...with a twist. Lucy and her team of all female detectives are meeting women from the past hauled before the courts for crimes big and small - from murder, adultery and theft, to civil disobedience and the shocking offence of not knowing their place! Were they guilty as charged? Or was their real crime si
Georgina Weldon - Wrongly Committed
In Lady on Trial, a brand new series for BBC Radio 4, Lucy Worsley and her all female team of detectives look at momentous legal struggles in history from a fresh and feminist perspective. This time, the legal whirlwind that is Georgina Weldon – opera singer, orphanage proprietor, spiritualist medium and litigant extraordinaire. One of the first women to bring a legal action in the English courts.
Connie Bolam - Conscientious Objector
Lucy Worsley is back with a new series where courtroom drama meets history…with a twist.In Lady on Trial we hear the voices of women from the past who ended up in court charged with everything from murder, adultery and theft to civil disobedience. And Lucy is asking if their true crime could have been to be born female. Lucy is also telling the story of the fight for legal rights for women over th
Christabel Russell - Scandalous Divorce
Lucy Worsley is back with a new series where courtroom drama meets history…with a twist.In Lady on Trial we hear the voices of women from the past who ended up in court charged with everything from murder, adultery and theft to civil disobedience. And Lucy is asking if their true crime could have been to be born female. Lucy is also telling the story of the fight for legal rights for women over t
Trial by Media
Lucy Worsley continues the new series Lady on Trial, where courtroom drama meets history with a twist.Lucy and her team are meeting women who find themselves at the centre of extraordinary legal battles, from the 18th century to the 1920s.But in this episode, we’re putting something else on trial - the media itself. In our first four cases, Caroline Norton, Elizabeth Chudleigh, Audrey Jacob and A
Audrey Jacob - Murder on the Dancefloor
Lucy Worsley goes to a glittering ball in Western Australia to investigate the sensational case of Audrey Jacob. It’s the 1920s, the era of bobbed hair and daring hemlines, and a ball at the Government House in Perth is in full swing. A young woman pushes her way through the throng of dancers, and before a ballroom packed with startled witnesses, she produces a concealed pistol and fires. Cyril Gi
Annie Kenney - Suffragette
Lucy Worsley is back with a new series of Lady on Trial, where courtroom drama meets history - with a twist. Lucy and her team of all female detectives travel back more than a hundred years to meet women hauled before the courts for crimes ranging from murder, adultery, and bigamy, to the shocking offense of not knowing their place.In this episode Lucy is investigating suffragette Annie Kenney. B
Elizabeth Chudleigh - Bigamist
Lucy Worsley is back with a new series where courtroom drama meets history…with a twist. In Lady on Trial we hear the voices of women from the past who end up in court charged with everything from murder, adultery and theft to civil disobedience. And Lucy is asking if their true crime could have been to be born female?Lucy is also telling the story of the fight for legal rights for women over thr
Caroline Norton - Campaigner
Lucy Worsley presents a brand new series – Lady on Trial, where courtroom drama meets history with a twist. Lucy and her team of all female detectives explore the lives of women involved in some of history’s most famous – and infamous – legal battles. Women who face the law head-on and don't always play by its rules. This time, Lucy is joined by the Baroness Hale of Richmond, first female presiden
Introducing Lady on Trial
Welcome to a new series of Lady Killers with Lucy Worsley – Lady on Trial - where courtroom drama meets history, with a twist. We’ll be meeting women from the past hauled before the courts for crimes from murder, adultery and bigamy to the shocking offence of not knowing their place.
60. True Crime on Trial
In the final episode of the series, Lucy Worsley puts true crime itself on trial. Why are we so fascinated by stories of murder, violence, and scandal and was it ever thus? Is true crime guilty of sensationalism and stereotyping, or can it reveal something more profound about society, culture, and ourselves?Lucy is joined by her all-female team of detectives, in-house historian Professor Rosalind
59. Kitty Newton - Killer Daughter
Lucy Worsley meets Kitty Newton, a daughter accused of killing her very own mother. With her team of all female detectives, Lucy uncovers long buried secrets in the Newton family - but could these truly be the motive for such a terrible crime? Would a daughter really kill her very own mother? If so, why? It is 1848, in the chill depths of winter. In the early hours of the morning a servant, Mary C
58. Mary Pearcey - Murderous Lover
Join Lucy Worsley and her all-female team as she delves into the Hampstead Tragedy, one of the most notorious murder cases of the Victorian era. When the horrifically mutilated body of a young mother called Phoebe Hogg is found dumped by the side of a street in north London in October 1890, the press erupts into a frenzy of speculation that Jack the Ripper has struck again. But it soon becomes cle
57. Jessie McLachlan - Silenced Servant
Lucy Worsley meets Jessie McLachlan, a woman accused of murdering one of her friends in Glasgow in 1862. There’s no obvious motive, but if she didn’t do it, who did?To investigate this infamous case, Lucy is joined by stellar barrister Jennifer Robinson, co-author of Silenced Women: Why the Law Fails Women and How to Fight Back, who has represented actor Amber Heard and WikiLeaks founder Julian A
56. Elvira Barney - Accidental Killer
This time, Lucy is exploring the story of Elvira Barney, a rich socialite in 1930s London, living a life of fast cars, cocktail parties and nightclubs. When her boyfriend Michael dies of a gunshot wound during a drunken row with Elvira, she finds herself in the dock at the Old Bailey, accused of his murder. Can her barrister convince the court it was a tragic accident?
With Lucy to find out more
55. Cloe - Forced Resistance
Lucy Worsley looks at the crimes of women from the 19th and early 20th centuries from a contemporary, feminist perspective.In this episode, we hear the story of Cloe, a black enslaved teenager who lives with the Carothers family, Andrew, Mary and their 11 children, on their farm in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania.Cloe is worked to the bone, constantly beaten by her mistress and sneaked on by the c
54. Martha Brown - Domestic Violence
Lucy Worsley is back with a new series of Lady Killers, where true crime meets history - with a twist.
This time Lucy heads to Dorset to explore the life of Martha Brown, a victim of domestic violence, accused of murdering her husband John in 1856. Martha’s story goes on to inspire Thomas Hardy’s novel Tess of the d’Urbervilles. Martha initially claims John was kicked to death by his horse, bu
53. Elizabeth Cook - Body Snatcher
Lucy Worsley is back with a new series of Lady Killers, where true crime meets history - with a twist.
In this episode, Lucy travels back to 1831 to Aldgate, then a poor part of East London, to investigate Elizabeth Cook, an Irish woman with a dark criminal background. When Elizabeth’s new lodger, an elderly peddler called Caroline Walsh, goes missing with no sign of her body, suspicions are hi
52. Amelia Haslett - Lady Killer in My Family
Lucy Worsley is back with a brand new series of Lady Killers. Lucy and her team of all female detectives re-visit the unthinkable crimes, committed by murderesses, more than a hundred years ago. In this episode, Lucy looks at a case with a difference. It’s true crime meets family history - with a twist. The team receives an email from Lady Killers listener, Charlotte Godfrey, who says she has a Vi
51. Murder by the Book - Live from the Hay Festival
Lady Killers with Lucy Worsley - the stories of women who kill - is back for a brand new series. This first episode is recorded in front of a live audience at the Hay Festival in 2025, with special guest Sarah Waters (bestselling author of Tipping the Velvet and Fingersmith) and in-house historian Professor Rosalind Crone. The team discovers which of our infamous lady killers inspired great writer
Coming soon - Lady Killers Series 4
Lucy Worsley returns to cover more cases of murder and intrigue in a brand new series of Lady Killers.
Coming soon, first on BBC Sounds.
50. Swindling Superpowers
In the final episode of season two of Lady Swindlers, Lucy Worsley and her partner in crime, Professor Rosalind Crone, are joined by novelist and game designer Naomi Alderman, author of the award-winning book, The Power. Together they explore one curious question - did our Lady Swindlers have superpowers?From the strength and agility of Minnie Pheby, the Lady Burglar, to the psychic abilities of
49. Elizabeth Manning - Hocusser
Lucy Worsley is back with another episode of Lady Swindlers, where true crime meets history - with a twist. Lucy and her team of all female detectives travel back more than a hundred years to revisit the audacious and surprising crimes of swindlers, hustlers and women on the make. Women trying to make it in a world made for men. In this episode, Lucy is delving into the life of Elizabeth Manning,
48. Amelie Decuzpere - International Art Thief
Lucy Worsley is back with another episode of Lady Swindlers, where true crime meets history - with a twist. Lucy and her team of all female detectives travel back more than a hundred years to revisit the audacious and surprising crimes of swindlers, hustlers and women on the make. Women trying to make it in a world made for men. In this episode, Lucy is exploring the lodging houses and pawnbroker
47. Fox Sisters - Spirit Mediums
Lucy Worsley returns with her new series of Lady Swindlers, where true crime meets history, with a twist. Lucy and her team of all female detectives travel back more than a hundred years to meet women who stepped outside of their ordinary lives to do extraordinary things. Together they investigate what their lives and crimes tell us about women in the past, and ask how different is it for women t
46. Minnie Pheby - Lady Burglar
Lucy Worsley meets Minnie Pheby, a strong and agile young woman who defies all the gender stereotypes of Victorian society – not a homemaker, but a homebreaker. She’s the devil compared with the idealised ‘angel in the house’, sneaking into middle class homes in the dead of night. In West London as the Victorian era draws to a close, Minnie sleeps on a pillow of stolen dresses in a squat furnished
45. Bold Conversations
Lucy Worsley returns with another episode of Lady Swindlers, where true crime meets history - with a twist. Joined by historian Ros Crone and comedian, activist and author Deborah Frances-White, Lucy revisits the stories of women who defied societal norms through audacious crimes.They also discuss what their own swindler names would be.This episode focuses on Celia Cooney, the Bobbed Haired Bandit
44. Celia Cooney - Bobbed Haired Bandit
Lucy Worsley is back with a brand new series of Lady Swindlers, where true crime meets history - with a twist. Lucy and her team of all female detectives travel back more than a hundred years to revisit the audacious and surprising crimes of swindlers, hustlers and women on the make. Women trying to make it in a world made for men. In this episode Lucy is investigating the bobbed hair and flapper
43. Catharine Murphy - Money Maker
Lucy Worsley is back with a brand new series of Lady Swindlers, where true crime meets history - with a twist. Lucy and her team of all female detectives travel back more than a hundred years to revisit the audacious and surprising crimes of swindlers, hustlers and women on the make. Women trying to make it in a world made for men.In this episode Lucy is exploring the life of Catharine Murphy, a s
42. Annie Gordon Baillie - Serial Swindler
Lucy Worsley continues her new series of Lady Swindlers, where true crime meets history, with a twist. Lucy and her team of all female detectives travel back more than a hundred years to tail scammers, crooks, conwomen and convicts. Women from all walks of life, who find themselves on the wrong side of the law.In this episode, Lucy is investigating Annie Gordon Baillie, a serial swindler who has
41. Mary Bateman - Yorkshire Witch
Lucy Worsley is back with a brand new series of Lady Swindlers, where true crime meets history - with a twist. Lucy and her team of all female detectives travel back more than a hundred years to revisit the audacious and surprising crimes of swindlers, hustlers and women on the make. Women trying to make it in a world made for men. In this first episode, Lucy is investigating the life of Mary Bat
Coming soon: Lady Swindlers Series 2
Coming soon. Lucy Worsley and team return for a second series focusing on conwomen, thieves, hoaxers and swindlers.
40. By Hook or by Crook
Lucy Worsle digs into the lives of bold women who choose - by hook or by crook - to escape a life of poverty, misfortune and hardship.
This episode highlights the fascinating tales of four invincible women. Sophie Lyons, a bank robber who, by the power of the American Dream, turns into a philanthropist. Madam Rachel, a beautician who combines fraudulent treatments with a deep understanding of wom
39. Ann Mary Provis - Art Hoaxer
In this new series Lucy Worsley switches her attention from Lady Killers to Lady Swindlers - con women, thieves and hustlers. This time Lucy is investigating the case of Ann Mary Provis, an obscure young artist in Georgian London who has the leading painters of her day - including the President of the Royal Academy - eating out of her hand. She claims to know the ‘secret’ of how great Renaissance
38. Fanny Davies - Uncommon Thief
In this new series Lucy Worsley switches her attention from Lady Killers to Lady Swindlers - con women, thieves and hustlers. This is where true crime meets history - with a twist. Lucy and her team of all female detectives travel back in time to revisit the audacious and surprising crimes of women trying to make it in a world made for men. In this episode Lucy is investigating the life of Fanny
37. Madame Rachel - Beauty Scammer
In this new series Lucy Worsley switches her attention from Lady Killers to Lady Swindlers - con women, thieves and hustlers. This is where true crime meets history - with a twist. Lucy and her team of all female detectives travels back more than a hundred years to revisit the audacious and surprising crimes of women trying to make it in a world made for men. This time Lucy is in London telling
36. Sophie Lyons - Crime Doesn't Pay
In this episode of Lady Swindlers, Lucy Worsley is exploring the life of Sophie Lyons, pickpocket, blackmailer and conwoman extraordinaire, known as the infamous Queen of the Underworld.Born in Germany in the late 1840s, aged 8 Sophie moves to New York, USA. She is taught from an early age to steal and pickpockets, and is in jail from the young age of 12.She becomes a career criminal, constantly c
35. Women Who Dare
Lucy Worsley, historian Professor Rosalind Crone and author and journalist Helen Lewis, explore the lives of four notorious Lady Swindlers.
They’ll be discussing underworld boss Tilly Devine, fake heiress Violet Charlesworth, queen of shoplifting Alice Diamond and fake Princess Mary Baker a.k.a. “Princess Caraboo”.
These women - through cunning and bravado - carve out notorious reputations and lea
34. Violet Charlesworth - Fake Heiress
In this episode of Lady Swindlers, Lucy Worsley meets Violet Charlesworth, an heiress with a taste for the high life. From her family home in North Wales, Violet drives the length and breadth of the country in her expensive motorcars, accompanied by pedigree pooches and dripping with diamonds. Lucy asks: is there more to her than meets the eye?She is joined by iconic crime writer Denise Mina (‘Gar
33. Tilly Devine - Underworld Queen
Lucy Worsley investigates the career of one of Sydney’s most notorious gangsters, Tilly Devine. Draped in furs and encrusted in jewels, she’s the madam of one of the most lucrative brothel networks the city’s ever seen. What brings Tilly from south London to Sydney? How does she rise to the top of the city’s ruthless, gritty 1920s gangster crime scene? To track Tilly’s story, Lucy is joined by his
32. Princess Caraboo - Fake Princess
Lucy Worsley and her all-female team of detectives travel back in time to meet con artists, hoaxers and crooks from across the world. Women living extraordinary lives in a world made for men.In this episode of Lady Swindlers, Lucy meets Princess Caraboo, a woman abducted from palace gardens in Indonesia, traded by pirates and carried away to South West England in 1817. Or so she says… Lucy is join
31. Alice Diamond - Queen of 40 Thieves
In this brand new series Lucy Worsley switches her attention from Lady Killers to Lady Swindlers - conwomen, thieves and hustlers. This is where true crime meets history - with a twist. Lucy and her team of all female detectives travel back more than 100 years to revisit the audacious and surprising crimes of women trying to make it in a world made for men. In this first episode Lucy is investig
Introducing Lady Swindlers
In this brand new series of Lady Killers with Lucy Worsley we switch our attention to the swindlers, conwomen and hustlers. This is where true crime meets history - with a twist. Join Lucy Worsley and a team of all female detectives as they travel back in time to revisit the audacious - and surprising - crimes of women who were trying to make it in a world made for men. Women who stepped outside
Bonus Episode: Lady Swindlers
In this special episode of Lady Killers with Lucy Worsley, recorded in front of a live audience, Lucy is joined by Professor Rosalind Crone, Lady Killers in-house historian and Salma el-Wardany, writer, poet and BBC Breakfast presenter. They look back at the last three seasons and offer an exclusive preview of the new season, Lady Swindlers.Lady Killers is where Lucy Worsley and a crack team of fe
30. Difficult Women
Lucy Worsley and Rosalind Crone are joined by Helen Lewis, author of ‘Difficult Women: A History of Feminism in 11 Fights.’ They discuss what it means to be a difficult woman and why the airbrushing of feminist history can be problematic.Together they discuss four of the most difficult women across the Lady Killers series; Mary Surratt, Alice Mitchell, Mary Ann Brough and Maria Manning. Each o
29. Mary Ann Brough - Mother with Everything to Lose
Lucy Worsley travels back in time to revisit the unthinkable crimes of 19th century murderesses from the UK, Australia and North America.In this episode, Lucy is joined by Alexandra Wilson, a barrister specialising in criminal and family law and author of ‘In Black and White’, to explore the case of Mary Ann Brough in 1854. Mary Ann lives in the picturesque county of Surrey, close to London. She’
28. Alice Mitchell - Forbidden Love
Lucy Worsley travels back in time to revisit the unthinkable crimes of 19th century murderesses from the UK, Australia and North America.In this episode Lucy is joined by Cameron Esposito, stand-up comic, actor, writer and host of the hit podcast Queery. They investigate the case of 19-year-old Alice Mitchell who killed 17-year-old Freda Ward in Memphis, Tennessee in 1892 after a stormy and illici
27. Sarah Bird - Cruel Employer
Lucy Worsley travels back in time to revisit the unthinkable crimes of 19th century murderesses from the UK, Australia and North America.Lucy Worsley travels to Buckland Brewer, Devon, to investigate the death of a young servant girl on a remote farm. Far from bucolic idyll with roses around the door, this is the location of a grizzly crime where a teenage girl, Mary-Ann Parsons, is found dead, he
26. Mary Surratt - Assassinating a President
Lucy Worsley travels back in time to revisit the unthinkable crimes of 19th century murderesses from the UK, Australia and North America.In this episode Lucy is joined by Evy Poumpouras, former special agent with the Secret Service, where she protected five US presidents as part of the Presidential Protective Division.Lucy and Evy investigate the case of Mary Surratt, a 42 year-old widow, mother a
25. Women on Trial
Lucy Worsley, Professor Rosalind Crone and barrister Nneka Akudolu KC take a look behind the scenes of Lady Killers. They shine a light on the detective work required to build the cases of these infamous murderesses, how evidence is pieced together, and how we can hear what these Victorian women are really trying to tell us about their lives. Nneka shares insights into her work specialising in com
24. Frances Kidder - Wicked Stepmother
Lucy Worsley travels back in time to revisit the unthinkable crimes of 19th century murderesses from the UK, Australia and North America.In this episode, Lucy is joined by Dr Gwen Adshead, for many years a consultant psychiatrist and psychotherapist at Broadmoor Hospital.They investigate the case of Frances Kidder, a 25-year-old woman unhappily married to a much older man, who is accused of murder
23. Jane and Ann Boyd - Secret Baby
Lucy Worsley travels back in time to revisit the unthinkable crimes of 19th century murderesses from the UK, Australia and North America.In this episode Lucy is joined by the Right Honourable Dame Siobhan Keegan, the Lady Chief Justice of Northern Ireland, who was one of the first women High Court judges in Northern Ireland.They explore the case of mother and daughter Jane and Ann Boyd, from a poo
22. Marie Christensen - Murderous Matron
It’s the 14th September 1896, just a short distance from Brisbane, on Australia’s east coast, and the sun is rising on Minjerribah Island, the ancestral land of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait ‘Quandamooka People’. It’s an area rich in Aboriginal culture. It’s also a colonised area, steeped in racism and division, and this is where the murder of six year old ‘Cassey’ takes place.To investigate th
21. Maria Manning - 'Lady Macbeth of Bermondsey'
Lucy Worsley travels back in time to revisit the unthinkable crimes of 19th century murderesses from the UK, Australia and North America.This episode sees Lucy traverse London, hot on the heels of Maria Manning, the so-called Lady Macbeth of Bermondsey, a woman who confounds expectations of respectable Victorian England. Maria shocked the nation in 1849, when she conspired with her husband to kill
Introducing Lady Killers Series 3
Lady Killers With Lucy Worsley is a smash hit historical true-crime podcast. Join Lucy and a team of female detectives as they investigate the ordinary lives - and extraordinary crimes - of women in the past from a contemporary feminist perspective. In this series, Lucy revisits the unthinkable crimes of murderesses including Mary Surratt, accused of conspiring to assassinate a U.S. President and
20. Is the law gender blind?
Lucy Worsley, Professor Rosalind Crone and lawyer and comedian Sikisa Bostwick-Barnes discuss the wicked crimes of the last four Lady Killers in this series. They examine their treatment by the criminal justice system and ask whether there are parallels with women’s experiences today. Together they examine gender, prejudice and racial bias.They explore the major changes for women over 100 years f
19. Jane Toppan
Lucy Worsley investigates the historical crimes of women from a contemporary, feminist perspective. In this episode, Lucy is joined by Dr Katherine Ramsland, a professor of forensic psychology at DeSales University, to visit Massachusetts in New England, USA and discover how one nurse became a notorious serial killer.
Jane Toppan is a well-respected and successful private nurse in Cambridge, Mas
18. Catherine Flannagan & Margaret Higgins
Lucy Worsley investigates the historical crimes of women from a contemporary, feminist perspective.
In this episode, Lucy is joined by award-winning crime writer Lynda La Plante CBE to investigate the case of two sisters, Catherine Flanagan and Margaret Higgins. They’re part of the Irish immigrant community in Liverpool, living near the docks in a crowded, working class area, doing many differe
17. Marguerite Fahmy
Lucy Worsley takes a fresh look at an infamous shooting that took place at London’s Savoy Hotel, amid all the wealth and glamour of the Roaring ‘20s.On 10th July 1923, at the height of a violent thunderstorm, Marguerite Fahmy shoots her new husband at close range with a pistol – in the corridor, outside their opulent suite. It’s clear she’s killed him, but why? Lucy is joined by Nneka Akudolu KC,
16. Edith Thompson
In this episode of Lady Killers, we travel back to the Roaring 20s as Lucy Worsley and guest detective Sasha Wass KC investigate how Edith Thompson, a woman who merely witnessed the violent killing of her husband, found herself on trial for his murder.Sasha Wass KC has taken on some of the legal system's most notable cases - involving Rosemary West, Rolf Harris and Johnny Depp. As a judge, prosec
15. Women's Bodies. Women's Rights
In this episode of Lady Killers, Lucy Worsley, Professor Rosalind Crone and broadcaster Ayesha Hazarika discuss the first four cases - brothel-keeper Mary McKinnon, chocolate-cream killer Christiana Edmonds, enslaved woman Margaret Garner and abortionist Elizabeth Taylor. They examine legal prejudice, frustrated sexual desire, illegal abortion, and slavery.They explore women’s rights over their ow
14. Mary McKinnon
In Lady Killers, Lucy Worsley investigates the crimes of 19th and early 20th century women from a contemporary, feminist perspective.
In this episode, Lucy is joined by Dr Anastacia Ryan, Founder of SISU, a Glasgow-based charity for women at risk and Lecturer in Social Policy at the University of Glasgow, to explore the case of Mary McKinnon. Mary lives in Edinburgh, Scotland in the 1820s, and
13. Elizabeth Taylor
Lucy Worsley looks at the crimes of Victorian women from a contemporary, feminist perspective.
In this episode, Lucy is joined by Deborah Frances-White, women’s rights campaigner, comedian and host of The Guilty Feminist podcast, to explore the case of Elizabeth Taylor, a backstreet abortionist in late 19th century Melbourne, Australia who spent decades playing cat and mouse with the law. They
12. Margaret Garner
Lucy Worsley looks at the crimes of women from the 19th and early 20th centuries from a contemporary, feminist perspective.
Lucy explores the story of Margaret Garner, an enslaved mother in 1850s America, who commits a murder that transforms her into an icon of tragedy and resistance. Her life inspired Tony Morrison’s Pulitzer-winning novel Beloved.
To explore Margaret Garner’s remarkable s
11. Christiana Edmunds
Lucy Worsley looks at the crimes of Victorian women from a contemporary, feminist perspective.
In the first case in her new series, Lucy explores the story of Christiana Edmunds, a respectable spinster who embarks on a mass poisoning spree when the man she loves fails to return her affection.
Lucy is joined by Dr Gwen Adshead, a forensic psychiatrist and psychotherapist who has worked for ma
Introducing Lady Killers Series 2
Lucy and a crack team of female detectives uncover new cases in Lady Killers series 2. Listen to all episodes first on BBC Sounds from Monday 20th March 2023.
Bonus episode: Lucy Worsley talks to Greg Jenner
Lucy talks to fellow historian Greg Jenner about "larking about" on the TV show Horrible Histories, how to triumph at a Tudor history quiz (visit a museum on the subject first!), working with your idols (Stephen Fry) and the process and extraordinary detail that goes into making You're Dead To Me.
You can listen to Greg's podcast by searching for You're Dead To Me on BBC Sounds or wherever you g
10. Mad, Bad And Dangerous To Know
In this final episode of Lady Killers, Lucy Worsley and Dr Rosalind Crone look back and discuss the last four cases and the issues and themes they share.Together they re-examine two of Britain’s most notorious serial killers, Amelia Dyer who’s thought to have killed hundreds of babies and children and Mary Ann Cotton who murdered three of her husbands and numerous children and step-children. Over
9. Hannah Mary Tabbs
Lucy Worsley investigates the crimes of Victorian women from a contemporary, feminist perspective. This time, Lucy explores the case of Hannah Mary Tabbs, who was very good at being very bad. An African-American woman living in Philadelphia in the 1880s, Hannah Mary was arrested after the discovery of the headless, limbless torso of her lover, Wakefield Gaines. With the help of Philadelphian hist
8. Esther Lack
Lucy Worsley investigates the crimes of 19th century women in the UK, North America and beyond from a contemporary, feminist perspective. Here, Lucy tells the story of the murderess Esther Lack and asks whether she was a cold-blooded child killer, or a loving mother driven to despair by poverty and ill health.In the early hours of the morning at the 22nd of August 1865 John Lack, a nightwatchman a
7. Mary Ann Cotton
Lucy Worsley investigates the crimes of Victorian women from a contemporary, feminist perspective.This time, Lucy visits County Durham in North East England, to reinvestigate the woman known as Britain’s first female serial killer. Mary Ann Cotton was accused of murdering her stepson in 1872, after telling the local grocer that she was sure her stepson will die soon. When her stepson died a few d
6. Amelia Dyer
Lucy Worsley investigates the ordinary lives and extraordinary crimes of Victorian women accompanied by a team of female detectives.
This time, Lucy is on the case of a baby farmer who’s thought to have killed between 200 and 400 children, by strangling them and throwing the bodies in the River Thames.Baby farming was almost an acceptable practice in the 19th century, seen as a necessary solut
5. Getting Away With It
In this episode of Lady Killers, Lucy Worsley and Dr Rosalind Crone look back and discuss the first four cases and the issues and themes they share.Together they look again at the alleged poisoners Florence Bravo and Madeleine Smith, who were said to have killed their respective husband and lover. They delve deeper into the story of the American heiress Lizzie Borden, accused of murdering her fath
4. Grace Marks
Lucy Worsley investigates the ordinary lives and extraordinary crimes of Victorian women. This story is about a young servant, Grace Marks, accused of two brutal murders that generated enormous attention in the new world of Upper Canada in 1843. In that time and in that place, murders were rare - and rarer still was a female murderer. Grace Marks and stable boy James McDermott went on the run,
3. Lizzie Borden
On a hot August day in 1892, a wealthy Massachusetts couple, Andrew and Abby Borden, were hacked to death during broad daylight in their home in the small industrial city of Fall River. Lizzie Borden, Andrew’s daughter from his first marriage, was arrested for double homicide. The trial gripped the nation – especially Victorian women who pack the courtroom to watch proceedings, in what one reporte
2. Madeleine Smith
Lucy Worsley investigates the crimes of Victorian women from a contemporary, feminist perspective. In this episode, Lucy explores the case of a young lady called Madeleine Smith. Part of high society in Glasgow in the 1850s, she was living the ideal life, attending balls and concerts, promenading around the shopping districts and spending her summers at her family’s large country home. But she wa
1. Florence Bravo
Lucy Worsley investigates the crimes of Victorian women from a contemporary, feminist perspective. In the first case in the series, Lucy explores the story of Florence Bravo, the woman at the heart of one of the most sensational unsolved murder cases of the Victorian era, and asks whether she was a ruthless poisoner or an abused wife.Lucy visits The Priory, Florence Bravo’s grand house in Balham
Welcome to Lady Killers with Lucy Worsley
Join Lucy Worsley and a team of female detectives as they investigate the crimes of Victorian women from a contemporary, feminist perspective. If you like what you hear, the whole series will be available to listen to from the 25th of July wherever you listen to podcasts. Or you can hear it right now in the UK – before anywhere else – first on BBC Sounds.
