Historical true-crime BBC Radio 4 series Lady Killers with Lucy Worsley is to return this March, bringing together an all-female team of detectives to investigate the ordinary lives – and extraordinary crimes of women from the 19th and early 20th century. Looked at through a contemporary feminist lens, the series will span shocking cases across the world, from England, Scotland, America and Australia, to expose the unthinkable actions of murderesses throughout history.
With author and historian Lucy Worsley at the helm, the ten-part series will also include expertise from lawyers, psychologists, activists, comedians and barristers alongside in-house historian Professor Rosalind Crone.
Guest detectives include author and activist Deborah Frances-White, legendary novelist Lynda La Plante OBE and barrister and prosecutor Sasha Wass KC. Meanwhile, accompanying discussion episodes will feature broadcaster Ayesha Hazarika and comedian and immigration lawyer Sikisa Bostwick-Barnes who will take a deep dive into ‘Women’s Bodies. Women’s Rights’ and ‘Is the law gender blind?’.
Lucy Worsley:
“I am constantly surprised by what women in the past went through. The challenges from the basic, like feeding their kids, through to the more psychological, like living in a world which was so blatantly unfair. Yet I am not surprised since some things have changed in the 21st Century and some things are the same.”
Highlights of the upcoming series include 1920’s “New Woman” Edith Thompson who was prosecuted for a murder she didn’t commit and whose conviction is now under review 100 years later. Tavern keeper Mary McKinnon faced a trial which largely dismissed the testimonies of sex workers, leading to discussions around modern-day sex work and decriminalising prostitution. The team uncover the story of backstreet abortionist Elizabeth Taylor to ask how much has truly changed when it comes to women’s rights over their own bodies and Margaret Garner, an enslaved woman who killed one of her own children to prevent her having a lifetime of servitude and has since become a figure of tragedy and resistance.
The series launches on March 20 2023 and is broadcast weekly on Mondays BBC Radio 4 at 11.30am. It can be listened to as a podcast on BBC Sounds.
