Crime and Punishment

04: Crime and Punishment | What the Victorians Did For Us

Adam Hart-Davis investigates the Victorian innovations that left a lasting impression on British society. In this p...

S10E09: Crime and Punishment: The Story of Capital Punishment | Timeshift

Documentary tracing the story of the ultimate sanction, examining such matters as the protocols of ...

S10E08: Crime and Punishment: The Story of Corporal Punishment | Timeshift

Documentary lifting the veil on the taboo that is corporal punishment, revealing a history spannin...

Setting and background to the murders | Timewatch

The setting and context in which the murders in Whitechapel were committed.

The East End | Timewatch

An investigation of the East End of London at the time of the Whitechapel murders.

The Secret of Lincoln Jail: A Time Team Special

Sir Tony Robinson joins a dig at Lincoln Castle, uncovering the dark secrets of a Victorian experiment in prison justice that...

04: Dick Turpin | Historyonics

Nick Knowles reveals the truth behind the romantic reputation of highwaymen. He introduces arguably the most famous highwayman of all, Duck Tu...

Legacy of Jack the Ripper | Timewatch

An introduction to the creation of the myth surrounding Jack the Ripper and why people are still so interested in the case.

Episode 1 | Lucy Worsley's Victorian Murder Club

Lucy Worsley takes on the historical cold case of a forgotten Victorian serial killer, dubbed the Thames Torso Murderer, who...

Episode 2 | Lucy Worsley's Victorian Murder Club

Lucy Worsley is hunting a Victorian serial killer who has scattered the remains of three women across London. Could the disc...

Music halls and west end gentlemen | Timewatch

The role that Victorian music halls played in the theory that Jack the Ripper was a respectable gentleman.

Episode 3 | Lucy Worsley's Victorian Murder Club

The trail has gone cold, but could a new murder 12 years later provide fresh leads? Lucy Worsley’s hunt for a Victorian seri...

S03E02 | A House Through Time

David Olusoga traces the house's fortunes from the late 18th to the mid-19th century, discovering tales of scandal, domestic violence and the a...

03: Rogues Gallery | Britain's Outlaws: Highwaymen, Pirates and Rogues

Sam Willis looks at urban crime, fraud and corruption in the 18th century, uncovering a fascinating ro...

John Smith | Learning Zone

John has been accused of forging letters from his employer to allow him to get clothes on credit from local shops, but John insists that he couldn...

Jane Angus | Learning Zone

Jane Angus, aged just 12, tells us how she was caught stealing a basket from a passenger at Greenock railway station. Jane was sentenced to 10 day...

James Fleming | Learning Zone

13 year old James Fleming from Perth explains the background that lead him to be sent to an Industrial school.

James Dunn Barr | Learning Zone

James Dunn Barr tells how he was sentenced to 9 months in prison in 1889 for housebreaking. Two historians guide us through what life would h...

Mary Jane Kelly | Timewatch

An investigation of the brutal murder of Mary Jane Kelly.

Police failure | Timewatch

Why the police failed to find Jack the Ripper and how they too were influenced by the myths surrounding the murderer.

Guy Fawkes and the Gunpowder Plot

In a one-off precursor to his Historyonic's series, Nick Knowles gets a behind-the-scenes look at why a Yorkshire-born zealot called Guy Fa...

S02E02: The Gunpowder Plot | Lucy Worsley Investigates

On 5 November 1605, a group of conspirators planned to blow up parliament. Lucy Worsley investigates the Gunpowder Plo...

S10E03: Witchfinder General | Secret History

Documentary account, drawn from court records and testimonies, of how Matthew Hopkins and John Stern convicted hundreds of men, ...

The plot is uncovered | Gunpowder 5/11: The Greatest Terror Plot

An anonymous letter tips off Lord Monteagle and leads to the discovery of Guy Fawkes beneath Parliament.

The Pendle Swindle | The Pendle Witch Child

Simon Armitage describes one of the more famous witch trials of its time in Pendle.

The Pendle Witch Child

The story of the most disturbing witch trial in British history and how a young girl's testimony sent her mother, brother, sister and many of her neig...

06: The Gunpowder Plot | Landmarks

This programme tells the story of the plot to blow up King James I.

Episode 3 | Elizabeth I's Secret Agents

A look at the world's first secret service. England has a new monarch and Robert Cecil exposes the most infamous terrorist threat in ...

The Bloody Code | The Strange Case of the Law

An era when England imposed harsh capital laws for even minor crimes.

Henry II, Thomas Becket and the church courts | The Strange Case of the Law

The clash between royal authority and church justice in the 12th century.

00: Learning Zone | The Strange Case of the Law

A series of 12 films in which barrister Harry Potter looks at the history of English justice, from the early concept of compe...

01: Laying Down the Law | The Strange Case of the Law

Harry Potter traces English law back to the compensation culture of Anglo-Saxon Kent, explores the rise of trial by ord...

London: A Tale of Two Cities with Dan Cruickshank

Dan Cruickshank follows in the footsteps of chroniclers John Stow and John Strype to explore London in the 17th century, on...

04: Gunpowder, Treason and Plot | Plague, Fire, War and Treason

In 1605 conspirators plotted to blow up Parliament and kill King James I. This film seeks out the truth behin...

Who was Guy Fawkes? | Watch

Guy Fawkes introduces himself, outlines his grievances with King James I and explains his involvement in the Gunpowder Plot.

Special: Exploding Heroes | Local Heroes

In anticipation of Guy Fawkes Night, Adam Hart-Davis goes on a whistlestop tour from Cornwall to Scotland, looking at the inspiratio...

Star chamber and the rack | The Strange Case of the Law

A glimpse into infamous early courts and the coercive methods they used.

The founding of the Police Force | The Strange Case of the Law

How modern policing began with reforms aimed at preventing crime.

Habeas Corpus and Slavery | The Strange Case of the Law

The role of Habeas Corpus in challenging the legality of enslavement.

The Conventicle Act (1664) and the independence of the jury | The Strange Case of the Law

How juries resisted government pressure during religious persecution.

04: Revolution | Andrew Marr's History of Modern Britain

Andrew Marr revisits the Britain of Margaret Thatcher and comes to some surprising conclusions about the British nat...

05: New Britannia | Andrew Marr's History of Modern Britain

In the final part of Andrew Marr's national saga, Britain enters the post-Thatcher era. Many have done well durin...

06: The Men Who Wouldn't Fight | Not Forgotten

In this special edition of Not Forgotten, Ian Hislop explores the powerful and often overlooked stories of conscientious objec...

Art Behind Bars | True North

For the first time since his release, Stephen Greer returns to the prison where he learnt to paint to teach art to offenders. Will art transform...

20th Century Wrap: 04: 1950s: Britain - A Time of Change? | History File

Schools history programme looking at 1950's, a period of great change. How did British people react...

Episode 1 | Firebombers

It's 1979, and four holiday homes in Wales are torched in one night. It’s the beginning of an arson campaign. The story of Meibion Glyndwr told by th...

S05E07: A Safe House | ScreenPlay

In the aftermath of the Guildford and Woolwich pub bombings, a large number of people of Irish descent were rounded up for questioning by t...

Episode 2 | Rebel Heart

Ernie is released fr prison, but the tranquility of the life he led before the Easter rising is short lived.

Episode 2 | Firebombers

It's 1986, and the arson group have ramped up their attacks, taking the firebombing campaign over the border into England. The government enlist the ...

S07E01: Great Train Robbery | Secret History

This program tells the real story of one of the most enduring crime news stories of the century, the great train robbery on Augu...