Overall this has been a most interesting series, particularly episode 1 which explored the concerns our ancestors had that the dead could return if they didn't experience a "good" death, i.e. if they didn't receive the last rites (extreme unction, confession & absolution).
So, unbelievably, suicides and others who died too quickly for their last rites were sometimes interred with stakes driven through them (Transylvania style) to stop their dead bodies "escaping the grave" to terrorise the living because they hadn't been properly equipped to leave this world and journey to the next. This in 18th century Britain. Fascinating and disturbing in equal measure. No prizes from where Bram Stoker took his inspiration.
Series 2 & 3 slightly less gripping but still very interesting nonetheless.
I'm not sure Saturday night was the ideal slot for this programme and probably didn't help its ratings achievement. However, it was good, if not perhaps the best thing Tony Robinson has ever done.
So where, oh where, have the other episodes (No. 4 is about witchcraft) gone? Was meant to be broadcast in Dec 2011 but has never seen the light of day. What a pity. Here's hoping that can be changed.
So, unbelievably, suicides and others who died too quickly for their last rites were sometimes interred with stakes driven through them (Transylvania style) to stop their dead bodies "escaping the grave" to terrorise the living because they hadn't been properly equipped to leave this world and journey to the next. This in 18th century Britain. Fascinating and disturbing in equal measure. No prizes from where Bram Stoker took his inspiration.
Series 2 & 3 slightly less gripping but still very interesting nonetheless.
I'm not sure Saturday night was the ideal slot for this programme and probably didn't help its ratings achievement. However, it was good, if not perhaps the best thing Tony Robinson has ever done.
So where, oh where, have the other episodes (No. 4 is about witchcraft) gone? Was meant to be broadcast in Dec 2011 but has never seen the light of day. What a pity. Here's hoping that can be changed.
