• Death at the Savoy Mansions: Post-War London's Drug Underworld
    Mar 6 2025

    During the victory celebrations of World War One, a rising star is found dead in her bed after a suspected overdose.


    22-year-old Billie Carlton’s death caused shockwaves across the nation, adding fuel to a growing moral panic about sex, scandal and drugs.


    Anthony and Maddy are joined by Virginia Berridge, Professor of History and Health Policy at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, to explore the path to drug criminalisation in postwar London following the death of Billie Carlton. Together, they uncover the extraordinary history of drugs in Soho - London’s most notorious neighbourhood in the 1920s.


    Historic Soho has been brought to life in the new BBC show Dope Girls, which tells the story of Soho when female gangs ran the nightclubs after the First World War. You can watch it on BBC iPlayer now.


    All music from Epidemic Sounds.


    After Dark: Myths, Misdeeds & the Paranormal is a History Hit podcast.

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    39 mins
  • The Servants' Revenge: Arsenic & a Poisoned Pint of Beer
    Mar 3 2025

    Why did two servants living in Plymouth, England, poison their whole household in 1675? How did they sneak arsenic into the food? And what on earth is pottage?


    Today Maddy Pelling and Anthony Delaney talk to Dr Blessin Adams, author of "Thou Savage Woman: female killers in early modern Britain".


    Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe.


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    All music from Epidemic Sounds.


    After Dark: Myths, Misdeeds & the Paranormal is a History Hit podcast.

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    52 mins
  • The Curse of King Tutankhamun's Tomb
    Feb 26 2025

    Untimely deaths followed the opening of Tutankhamun's tomb by Howard Carter. Coincidence or ancient curse? When the tomb of King Tutankhamun was sealed more than 3000 years ago, it was rumoured to be protected by a curse, which would ruin the life of anyone who disturbed the pharaoh's final resting place. A mere two weeks after the tomb was discovered in 1922, one of the explorers died from a fatal mosquito bite. This wasn't the end of the bad luck, there was more to come... Anthony and Maddy are joined by Egyptologist Campbell Price to unpick fact from fiction, and get to the bottom of one of the most notorious curses in the world.


    Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe.


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    All music from Epidemic Sounds.


    After Dark: Myths, Misdeeds & the Paranormal is a History Hit podcast.

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    57 mins
  • Final Days of Thomas Cromwell
    Feb 24 2025

    From ruthless schemer to pragmatic hero - who is the real Thomas Cromwell? And how did he meet his end? Today Anthony Delaney tells Maddy Pelling the story.


    Edited by Tomos Delargy. Produced by Freddy Chick. Senior Producer is Charlotte Long.


    Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe.


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    All music from Epidemic Sounds.


    After Dark: Myths, Misdeeds & the Paranormal is a History Hit podcast.

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    53 mins
  • Glencoe Massacre: Haunted Highlands
    Feb 20 2025

    (Part 2/2) On the 13 February 1692, Scottish government troops slaughtered between 30-40 members of Clan MacDonald in their home in Glencoe, in the Scottish Highlands. Who was behind the killings? How has this atrocity been remembered? Is Glencoe haunted by its past?


    Maddy and Anthony's guests today are Dr Allan Kennedy whose new book 'Serious Crime in Late Seventeenth-Century Scotland' is out now and Lucy Doogan from the Nation Trust for Scotland's Visitor Centre in Glencoe.


    Edited and produced by Freddy Chick. Senior Producer is Charlotte Long.


    Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe.


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    All music from Epidemic Sounds.


    After Dark: Myths, Misdeeds & the Paranormal is a History Hit podcast.

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    39 mins
  • Peasants' Revolt: Murder in the Tower of London
    Feb 17 2025

    (2/2) A boy King, a rebel army, and the first ever execution at Tower Hill. Maddy Pelling tells Anthony Delaney the days in the summer of 1381 when rebels took control of London and King Richard II, only fourteen, restored a world turned upside down.


    Edited by Tomos Delargy. Produced by Freddy Chick. Senior Producer is Charlotte Long.


    Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe.


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    All music from Epidemic Sounds.


    After Dark: Myths, Misdeeds & the Paranormal is a History Hit podcast.


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    42 mins
  • Glencoe Massacre: Hell in the Scottish Highlands
    Feb 13 2025

    On the 13 February 1692, Scottish government troops slaughtered between 30-40 members of Clan MacDonald in their home in Glencoe, in the Scottish Highlands. They fell upon them without warning, killing indiscriminately. Who were the MacDonalds? Why did this atrocity happen?


    Maddy and Anthony's guests today are Dr Allan Kennedy whose new book 'Serious Crime in Late Seventeenth-Century Scotland' is out now and Lucy Doogan from the Nation Trust for Scotland's Visitor Centre in Glencoe.


    Edited and produced by Freddy Chick. Senior Producer is Charlotte Long.


    Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe.


    You can take part in our listener survey here.


    All music from Epidemic Sounds.


    After Dark: Myths, Misdeeds & the Paranormal is a History Hit podcast.

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    35 mins
  • Peasants' Revolt: Medieval Rebellion
    Feb 10 2025

    1381, England, the world turned upside down as the commoners rise up and dismantle the mechanisms of power. They're angry about taxes, serfdom, about being forcibly kept in their place by corrupt lords...about a lot of stuff. But will they prevail? Maddy Pelling tells Anthony Delaney about how the uprising began.


    Edited by Tomos Delargy, produced by Freddy Chick, Senior Producer is Charlotte Long.


    Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe.


    You can take part in our listener survey here.


    All music from Epidemic Sounds.


    After Dark: Myths, Misdeeds & the Paranormal is a History Hit podcast.

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    35 mins