Lady Killers with Lucy Worsley

To the frustration of many, a lot of women’s clothes don’t have pockets. But why on Earth is that the case? Especially when men’s clothing seems to be full of pockets. On Here For The History, Alice Loxton and Ben Henderson track the tumultuous and muddy history of women’s pockets. From capacious beginnings, through many fashion changes, to suffragette campaigning and societal expectations. Alice...

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...

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...

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....

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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.

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...

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...

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...

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...

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 a...

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...

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, but ev...

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 high....

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...

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...

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.

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...

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,...