And more specifically, its host, historian Suzannah Lipscomb. The show itself is more less exactly what it says on the tin, with titles like “Hidden Killers of the Victorian Home” “Hidden Killers of the Edwardian Home” and “New Hidden Killers of the Victorian Home;” each episode runs about 55 minutes but could easily be condensed into 30 if you eliminated the unnecessary framing shots of portcullises and dramatic pauses after questions like “Could this be a hidden killer?” (Yes. It could, and it was.)
Here’s a representative episode:
This is the greatest series on television, and I will tell you exactly why. Firstly, it makes you feel like you are doing something intellectual, when in fact you are merely absorbing a bullet list of fairly well-known facts (The Victorians used lead in children’s toys and arsenic in wallpaper. This was unhealthy. Etc). It’s just the right amount of information. You feel less stupid without actually learning anything.
Secondly, Suzannah Lipscomb has the most mesmerizing voice of any human being currently living above ground. I hear it, and I become Ursula the Sea Witch. I want to snatch it out of her throat in a glowing green ball, stuff it into a seashell, wear it around my neck forever, and transform myself into a glorious brunette bitch-queen. It’s ver-r-r-y deep and lush and all Received Pronunciation, like she’s got a mouthful of warm marbles, sure, but it comes with a bonus feature: the slightest and most endearing of lisps. Every third “s” comes with a little juicy flourish, and waiting for it is like listening for hoofsteps on the roof on Christmas Eve.
She is beautiful beyond the lot of mortal women, to be sure, that’s also a part of it. Her hair curls in a manner I’ve never seen on anyone else. It cannot be described, only appreciated. She has tassels of it. She wears a nose ring and she looks like if Taylor Swift had a child with a beautiful swan, and that child received a doctorate in Restoration-era Languedoc.
But many women are beautiful, I hear you say, and you are right. It is not only that she has the face of a maiden Mary Poppins. It is everything: the fact that she wears a vivid red dress in every appearance, like Mr. Rogers’ beloved red sweater; her ability to rephrase “But could [X] have really been a hidden killer?” in ten thousand different ways; the way she glances suspiciously at butter dishes and doorknobs.
And then there is Dr. Kate Williams. Dr. Kate is a frequent guest of Dr. Lipscomb’s, and she reveals every fact about unsafe lighting practices and the dangers of gas in the home as if she were imparting to you the most precious gossip.
This is how Dr. Kate explains that Edwardians were interested in electricity: with incredulous eyebrows, a shocked mouth, and furrows in the brow that seem to say, Look, you didn’t hear this from me, but…
This is what Dr. Kate looks like when explaining that the Victorians liked to be clean. This is the face of a TMZ source!
Can you believe it, Dr. Kate says. Can you believe these bakers, adding aluminum and plaster of Paris to their bread dough, to their Victorian customers, thereby becoming one of the hidden killers of the Victorian home?
We cannot believe it. Help us with our unbelief.
I love this show for being both historically factual and completely melodramatic at the same time. Her hair is basically her co-presenter. Have you seen the one where she enters a cold pond in Elizabethan dress to show how easy it was to drown? Amazing.
WHAT?!!!!! I love that.
After watching the episode above, it’s a wonder the English still exist at all!
That wa the best moment.
I thought this was incredibly brave of her. One of the best “historical re-enactments” ever on telly. Terrifying!
Yes! Hidden Killers of the Tudor Home. Drowning! Burning chimneys! Falling chimneys. Falling, burning chimneys! Basically, avoid Tudor chimneys, because they really hadn’t figured out how to chimney.
YES YES YES this is what I watched when I finished with all the seasons of GBBO that had aired at the time. I was legit a little afraid of stairs after watching the Victorian episode.
I just finished watching the last episode of this season’s GBBO, and was wondering what to watch next! Now I know.
Ooh, you could also try The Supersizers Eat… and The Supersizers Go…, in which SUE PERKINS, perfect person (and Giles Coren, who is not a perfect person but does have the sense to be madly in love with her), spend a week living, eating, and getting drunk in various periods of history. Lots of episodes on youtube.
YES!!!!! That show is awesome!
I’ve seen some of those! My favorite was the 1920s episode, in which Sue Perkins existed on a reducing diet that consisted mainly of celery and alcohol. I should definitely look for more episodes.
I just watched this entire series over the weekend along with The Poisoner’s Handbook. Conclusion: The past was smegging scary. Which I knew, but it’s nice to have a reminder to appreciate the 21st century every once in awhile. I agree with every single sentiment expressed about Suzannah Lipscomb and will add to it; that red lipstick, day-um.
Oh my god, I LOVED the poisoner’s handbook (assuming you mean the American Experience PBS show). Also, if you want slightly lisping British women telling you salacious historical things, Lucy Worsley and her show A Very British Murder, yes.
These shows are excellent things to watch while you are doing some moderately complicated knitting and might have to look away to count stitches or whatever, because if you look away from the screen for a moment the narration will still tell you what’s happening
The very same Poisoner’s Handbook! I now have the book on my reading list. I always want slightly lisping British women telling me salacious historical things so thank you for the recommendation.
Oh wait, I stand corrected – Worsley doesn’t have a lisp, she’s got rhotacism. But still! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QTRYPcaGUo
Wait wait at 4:45 there’s a jolly roger graphic cartwheels over the hidden killer BREAD omg
Also, this is the most BBC show that the Beeb has ever Beebed. Sandi Toksvig once said, “God bless the BBC; when everyone else is trying to make lowest-common-denominator television, you can turn on BBC 4 and hear a soothing RP voice say, ‘And now, for Part Four of the History of the Mattress’.”
This is the epitome of that.
SANDI TOKSVIG
Sorry. This really is an exciting day.
I KNOW
I have been a WEP member since approx. Day 2, mostly because SANDI
(Also, your username is the best username)
Thanks! When/if I can manage to get back to England, I plan to get involved.
That quote really gets to the heart of it. A friend was trying to talk me into getting a VPN before I moved so I could still watch American netflix, because I would “get tired” of British television some day. But he doesn’t know how curious I am about the mattress and all other household objects! In fact, the mattress probably another hidden killer … something something… bedbugs and ticks … pokey straw … arsenic? I look forward to learning more.
And I’m only a tiny bit disappointed that it isn’t Ruth Goodman, that auburn haired goddess.
Ruth Goodman is indeed a domestic history goddess at whose altar I do daily devotions.
I needed only the tiniest nudge:
And while searching for that image, I stumbled upon this tumblr, which is the best tumblr I have ever stumbled upon: <a href=”http://thesmallestfandom.tumblr.com/” target=”_blank”>http://thesmallestfandom.tumblr.com/
Oh god that tumblr. I’ve found my home.
As an Australian I am completely bemused by this conversation and have no idea who that tumblr is referring to but now my brain needs to move in there and luxuriate.
OMG OMG OMG I thought I was the smallest fandom of ONE for this show. Now I discover not only does someone else love it but they love it enough to make this glorious Tumblr. God love the internet.
ETA:
“i think i have a problem.
this problem is three sexy historians.”
THAT TUMBLR
WHERE HAS IT BEEN ALL MY TUMBLIFE
AND WHY IS IT SO LONG DE-TUMBL-FUNCT
the internet is truly a cruel mistress.
Speaking of which, has everyone seen the If Walls Could Talk documentaries by Lucy Worsley? Because you must. There are four, one each on the kitchen, living room, bedroom, and bathroom. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XSBHDSIcObQ&l…
I adore Lucy! She gets so excited about everything and takes any excuse to get into costume. It’s so endearing.
She also has a fantastic twitter where she gets excited about her costumes!
The day the Beeb realised that the Chief Curator of Historic Royal Palaces was an attractive woman with an adorable lisp who would bounce about making incredibly cheap television for them must have been a very happy day. Since 2009, she has made 20 programmes for them.
“the uploader has not made this video available in your country”
GODDAMNIT YOUTUBE YOU TEASE. This sounded like the perfect thing to watch/listen to while cleaning. The thought of perishing in a detergent-related freak accident is rarely far from my mind anyway.
Not to advertise for Amazon but all of the episodes are now available on Prime Streaming if that would be helpful. (I *looove* Suzannah Lipscomb *so much*!! and hope everyone watches this series!! (But also Lucy Worsely, I am all aswoon!))
!!!!
I know what I’m doing tonight! (Then avoiding any bread and doorknobs, obviously).
Also avoid eating the wallpaper. But I may have said too much!
I bet there’s some delicious lead paint under there, too!
You could have a Pb and jelly sandwich! (I apologize. That was dreadful.)
I LOL’d (as the kids say).
Aah, thank you, just added to my Watchlist!!
Okay, Susanna whatsherface….but Dr. Kate’s voice! That huskiness! I swoon. Tell me more, Dr. Kate. Tell me more.
I also appreciate watching these on youtube, where they cut dramatically for commercial (“Could THIS be a KILLER…? FADE TO BLACK) and then it comes back immediately to say “yeah, yup, this definitely killed people”…as if we were not aware of the title of the show and that everything they talk about killed people.
Well, so much for finishing the book I’m reading, as I’ll probably be binge-watching this tonight. Goddamn it, and I was THISCLOSE to properly adulting for the whole day! Not one single regret.
If we must gossip about BBC history presenters’ personal styles, [yes, we must] then I’ll say that Dr Lucy Worsley looks like the most chic 60s schoolgirl in the world, and Janina Ramirez is very appropriately romantic goth for her excellent series on Britain’s viking-doomed monasteries.
Worsley is the lady from the program about royal beds, yes? She definitely has a personal style. I always find it charming when historians on TV have their own signature “look.” Which is why it confused me so much awhile back when I watched some history program and they’d very obviously made all the talking heads wear black and red.
*examines fingernails* well, she’s no Lucy Worsley, but I suppose she’s alright.
Yessssss
Another Lucy Worsley fan reporting for duty.
Not to be this girl, but I am this girl, so what can you do: apparently a lot of the bread adulteration rumours might be false, and I have googled and found the Bill Bryson quote, from ‘At Home.’
“…it was common for bakers to add bean meal, chalk, white lead, slaked lime and bone ash to every loaf they made. […] Even now these assertions are routinely reported as fact even though it was demonstrated pretty conclusively over seventy years ago by Frederick A Filby in his classic work ‘Food Adulteration’ that the claims could not possibly be true. Filby too the interesting and obvious step of baking loaves of bread using the accused adulterants in the manner and proportions described. In every case but one the bread was either as hard as concrete of failed to set at all, and nearly all the loaves smelled or tasted disgusting. Several needed more baking time than conventional loaves, and so were actually more expensive to produce. Not one of the adulterated loaves was edible.
“The fact of the matter is that bread is sensitive stuff and if you put foreign products into it in almost any quantity it is bound to become apparent.[…] Although some adulteration doubtless did happen, particularly when it enhanced colour or lent an appearance of freshness, most cases of claimed adulteration are likely to be either exceptional or untrue…”
Bee Wilson’s book ‘Swindled’ is a great read on this topic, though her conclusion is different than Bryson’s (that dangerous adulteration was fairly common).
something about her posture confuses me…
Life Goal #8: Become BBC history programme presenter.
(If this can be combined with Life Goal #5 (followed at all times by fleet of tiny spaniels) then so much the better.)
There are plenty of interesting historical facts about spaniels, as I’m learning from perusing wikipedia. For instance there’s an extinct breed of English Water Spaniel that may have gotten a mention in Macbeth: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_Water_Spani…
If you need an enthusiastic quote to pull for a vision board to use at a BBC pitch meeting, I’d be happy to contribute.
I need to make this happen. I mean, I’m blond, I’m pretty, I’m personable, I speak well, and I’m mostly done with a history degree. How difficult can it be?
Yes, but how is your lisp?
In hiding since the age of six, but I’m certain it could be called up again if needed.
And Judith Flanders! I one day randomly picked up her Inside the Victorian Home in a store and fell in LOVE. Victorian silliness really doesn’t interest me but I had no idea how absurd it really was.
I wonder if the Victorian-living couple furnish their house like this? Because, you know, it would be so *accurate*.
AH, if only some lovely BBC ladies and Ruth Goodman could turn up and tell them that they were idiots.
They could subtitle their blog Arsenic & Old Lace!
That second Dr. Kate still in particular gives her a little something Freddie Lounds-ish to her…
Could Victorian murder husbands be killers? Well, I mean, yes.
I’m here for Sister Wendy. Who else spent many class periods being made uncomfortable by Sister Wendy’s dramatic appreciation for the great nudes of Western Art History?
Eeee, Sister Wendy! My art history classes never included television shows, and Sister Wendy hadn’t hit the airwaves until a decade after I finished undergrad, but I just loved watching Sister Wendy on PBS at home. And her adorable distocclusion! (I think that’s the right term, but I am not a medical professional.)
My grandparents have a large collection of Sister Wendy on vhs. It’s kind of adorable.
I think she kickstarted my weird preoccupation with nuns.
dr kate was also featured on the biscuit episode of the latest series of the great british bakeoff where she educated us on the history of the mcvitie’s biscuit. i am absolutely floored by the fact that i remembered this (and am questioning all the choices that led me to this place in my life, obvs.)
I dearly love the Welsh electrician with the world’s softest voice. If I could only teach my children to speak like he does.
Soft Welsh secrets (of science)…
I have really appreciated the lst couple of years of BBC history programmes – so many of them, and almost all presented by women and with all the ‘visiting experts’ also women. It has made me very happy and I’ve really noticed it.
Suzannah Lipscomb taught my very first seminar at university! It was on witches! She was brilliant and lovely and gave everyone sweets!
HERE FOR THIS. I didn’t think I could love any beautiful historical BBC presenter more than I love Dr Janina Ramirez and her dramatic eyeliner and her impractical sexy leather boots and her ability to make middle-aged tweedy academics go cross-eyed by standing next to them nodding attentively, but Suzannah Lipscomb might just have to share that crown.
In fact……
In FACT……
I KNEW THE VIBE WAS FAMILIAR
Well, my heart belongs to Lucy Worsley. If you have seen her series on the Regency, particularly where she does man drag as Beau Brummell….who could resist?
Lucy is my favourite. Her current series on the history of romance in Britain is fan.tastic.
She also recently did a one-off about horse dancing, which is a thing that happened.
I do not get the popularity of Lucy Worsley. Her watered-down history and style of presenting is so grating to me that whenever I see a new history series is presented by her, I always sigh and skip over it. But I really like Amanda Vickery, whose history has a bit more heft to it, and when she walks on camera it actually looks natural. Look her up on YouTube for her “At Home with the Georgians” for an exceptional series!
I’ve watched enough of the “Women Historians Presenting Social History” shows to have become hypersensitive to the way they package them. I can just heard the conversations of the production team: “She’s too dowdy. We have to make her and the history look sexy.” “What if we were to put her in high heels and a dangerously tight skirt? Some leather, perhaps?” The poor scholar protests that she’s never worn stiletto boots, but they are adamant. And so you get these painful video shots of them walking awkwardly across a cobblestone street trying desperately to look like they are striding confidently.
ok but is there slash of it because Reasons
I’m 15 minutes in and they’re talking about the squishy spines and I’m like, completely horrified. (I say this as someone who has squishy bones too it’s very hypocritical of me.)
I'm 15 minutes in and they're talking about the squishy spines and I'm like, completely horrified. (I say this as someone who has squishy bones too it's very hypocritical of me.)
Can we also talk about Lucy Worsley then at some point? Her vaguely retro fashions and trim bob? Her strong arms, and how she always seems to be winking at the camera? She has everything I ever wanted in a historian.
‘Why would you not poison your husband and go off and be a merry widow? Why not?”
Why not indeed… :looksaroundslyly:
I've seen some of those! My favorite was the 1920s episode, in which Sue Perkins existed on a reducing diet that consisted mainly of celery and alcohol. I should definitely look for more episodes.