Ray’s History Radio & TV Picks. No.37. 17 Oct 2015.

Witch Hunt: A Century of Murder
Channel 5: Sun 20 Oct 2015, 04.00 – 04.50. 1 /2
Dr Suzannah Lipscomb reveals what it must have been like for victims accused of crimes that they could not possibly have committed. http://www.channel5.com/shows/witches-a-century-of-murder/episodes/episode-1-837

J’Accuse
BBC Radio 4: Sun 18 Oct 2015, 16.00 – 17.00
Hattie Naylor’s drama was inspired by a newspaper article written by Emile Zola in response to the Dreyfus Affair of the 1890s, when a Jewish army officer was persecuted and wrongly imprisoned by the French military and judicial establishment. Louis Gregori gives a right-wing and nationalistic perspective on the events that led him to believe that the murder of the guiltless Dreyfus was the correct and only action.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00kwfbd

China: Treasures of The Jade Empire
Channel 4: Sun 18 Oct 2015, 20.00 – 21.00.
The Secret History strand turns its attention to the tombs of the emperors of China’s Han dynasty. As revealed by a complex dating from the second century BC, it’s a tale of grave robbers, mummies and miniature figures, both human and animal. http://www.channel4.com/programmes/china-treasures-of-the-jade-empire

Centurion (2010)
Channel 5: Sun 18 Oct 2015, 21.00 – 23.00.
Historical action-war film directed by Neil Marshall, loosely based on the legend of the massacre of the Ninth Legion in Caledonia in the early second century AD. A splinter group of Roman soldiers fight for their lives behind enemy lines after their legion is decimated in a devastating guerrilla attack.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centurion_(film)

The Celts: Blood, Iron and Sacrifice with Alice Roberts and Neil Oliver
BBC Two: Mon 19 Oct 2015, 21.00 – 22.00. 3 / 3.
Roberts and Oliver conclude the series with the tale of how the Romans invaded these shores – not an easy task considering Britain’s tribes were powerful, well equipped militarily, and rich in resources. Boudicca, leader of the Celts’ last stand against the Romans, figures prominently. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06kpzcv

Witch Hunt: A Century of Murder
Channel 5: Tue 20 Oct 2015, 20.00 – 21.00. 2/2
Dr Suzannah Lipscomb focuses on Matthew Hopkins; a puritan active during the civil war era, he sent more than 100 victims to the gallows and gave himself the title of Witchfinder General. http://www.channel5.com/shows/witches-a-century-of-murder/episodes/episode-2-810

Drama: Tommies
BBC Radio 4: Wed 21 Oct 2015, 14.15 – 15.00
Written by Nick Warburton, this excellent military drama series set a century ago returns. Recurring character Mickey Bliss, a signalman with the Lahore Division of the British Indian Army, has been promoted. Going back to the front line as an officer, he arrives to find the Allies still where they were when the battle of Loos began a month previously. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06j2gg4

Restoring Britain’s Landmarks
Channel 4: Wed 21 Oct 2015, 20.00 – 21.00. Episode 2.
The Landmark Trust team explores Llwyn Celyn Farm in Monmouthshire, which after surviving almost unchanged for 550 years is on the edge of collapse. Also work continues on Hougoumont Farm at the Waterloo battlefield. http://www.channel4.com/programmes/restoring-britains-landmarks

Face of Britain by Simon Schama
BBC Two: Wed 21 Oct 2015, 21.00 – 21.00. 4 / 5: The Look of Love.
The art historian turns his attention to great love portraits. His subject isn’t just romantic love. A section on Gainsborough’s painting of his daughters, shown chasing a butterfly, is both fascinating and moving, as Schama decodes an image that conveys joy in being a parent, but also fragility and loss. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06jdh0n

In Our Time
BBC Radio 4, Thu 22 Oct 2015, 9.00 – 9.45.
Melvyn Bragg and guests investigate the history of ideas, focusing on the work of French writer, intellectual and existentialist philosopher Simone de Beauvoir. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06j5ncn

The Last Kingdom
BBC Two: Thu 22 Oct 2015, 21.00 – 21.00. 1 /8
Based on Bernard Cornwell’s Saxon Stories, this drama that promises “thrills and, unlike Game of Thrones, some actual history.” We begin in ninth-century Northumbria where warrior king Uhtred (Matthew Macfadyen) faces attack by the Danes. Can he repel the Viking invaders? http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0344rr3