Lady Killers with Lucy Worsley Folgen

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 president of the UK Supreme Court, to uncover the extraordinary story of Caroline Norton – a celebrated writer and socialite, accused of adultery with the British Prime Minister in a scandalous ‘Criminal Conversation’ trial in 1836. The courtroom is packed to the rafters, her private life scrutinised in excruciating detail, but Caroline cannot attend, give evidence or fight her corner.Socially ostracised and denied the right to see her three sons for years on end, Caroline channels her personal experience of injustice into a remarkable campaign to change the law on the custody of children. Her fearless activism also contributes to the dismantling of coverture, the common law doctrine that meant women had no legal existence of their own after marriage. They were completely subsumed or ‘covered’ by their husbands’. Lucy and Lady Hale look at family law today, thinking about what has changed and what could still be improved, especially for children when a relationship breaks down. Caroline Norton never calls herself a feminist, and they reflect on why that might be and the true meaning of feminism in the present day. Professor Rosalind Crone from The Open University sets Caroline’s case within the wider context of married life in 19th century Britain and explains how women used their ingenuity to beat the system wherever possible. Producer: Sarah Goodman Readers: Clare Corbett, William Hope, Jonathan Keeble and Ruth Sillers Historical consultant: Professor Rosalind Crone Head of Production: Claire Myers Sound design: Chris Maclean Senior Producer: Julia Hayball Executive Producer: Kirsty Hunter A StoryHunter production for BBC Radio 4

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 Crone and guest detective Hannah Maguire, co-host of the hit podcast RedHanded. Together they examine the long history of true crime as entertainment, asking whether today’s podcasts, documentaries, and social media sleuthing are really so different from the pamphlets, broadsides, waxworks, and tabloid stories of the past.The episode revisits three notorious cases. Martha Brown, executed in 1856 for killing her abusive husband, whose fate drew public sympathy and inspired Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the d’Urbervilles. Mary Pearcy, convicted in 1890 of the brutal murder of her lover’s wife and baby, whose trial and execution became a Victorian media sensation. And Elvira Barney, the glamorous socialite who in 1932 shot her lover and walked free, the tabloids feasting on every detail of her privileged world.Through these stories, Lucy, Ros and Hannah explore how women have been represented in true crime narratives, and how gendered assumptions about violence and morality have shaped the way female offenders are portrayed. They also consider why audiences, past and present, are drawn to these tales, and whether our hunger for crime stories reflects fear, fascination, or the thrill of playing detective from the safety of our own homes.Producer: Riham Moussa Readers: Clare Corbett, Moya Angela, Jonathan Keeble and Ruth Sillers Sound Design: Chris Maclean Executive Producer: Kirsty HunterA StoryHunter production for BBC Radio 4.