Burke & Hare
Coming out 3 October
At Christmastide, 1827, in a boarding house in Edinburgh’s West Port, an old army pensioner dies of natural causes. He owes the landlord £4 rent. Instead of burying the body, the landlord, William Hare, and his friend William Burke fill the coffin with bark and sell the corpse to Dr Robert Knox, an ambitious anatomist. They make a profit of £3.10s.
After this encouraging outcome, Burke and Hare decide to suffocate another sickly tenant. So begins the criminal career of the most notorious double act in the history of serial murder.
Join After Dark hosts Anthony Delaney and Maddy Pelling as they transport you to the early 19th century.
A Napoleonic Escape
Coming out on 17 October
In February 26, a flotilla left the island with about 1,150 people aboard. Napoleon was on it. He had given Elba and the English the slip without really bothering to hide his intentions or his preparations. Napoleon even met with officials in Elba to tell them he was leaving. Soon, he was back in France.
“A thousand ideas and projects are formed; resistance is nowhere decided,” he told an associate. “I shall arrive before any plan has been organized against me.”
The bold prison break worked: The French were surprised, the English ineffective, and Napoleon’s supporters ecstatic. He arrived in Paris as a hero. And though his second reign only lasted 100 days, it would never have been possible without the egotism and brashness of a man who simply decided he’d take matters into his own hands.
North Berwick Witch Trials
Coming out 31 October
In the autumn of 1589 the king of Scotland, James VI, and his new bride, Anne of Denmark, were sailing through this stretch of water in the Firth of Forth, approaching Edinburgh.
It had been a safe crossing from Denmark and they were nearly home – but then, from the west(?), the wind started to increase – dark clouds filled the skies, the water churned and the air was filled with the most terrible, perfect storm.
The storms of 1589 wreaked havoc on sea and land, but for the women of England and Scotland, they conjured up a far more dangerous consequence – a renewed fear of the supernatural, of witchcraft.
Join Maddy and Anthony again for their second documentary on History Hit. They investigate how paranoia about witches spread like wildfire, was translated into law and the machinery of the Churches right up to the centre of government, how the king himself pushed forward the hunt for witches.
They find out who were the men and women accused of witchcraft, how they were tortured to extract confessions, the tragedy of their fate.
