The marriage of Queen Victoria to Prince Albert set the template for how we imagine a wedding should be but it wasn’t always about big white frocks. Philippa Gregory explores how married women became the property of their husbands - along with

7. Normal women...are beyond definition

Dec 7th, 2023 52m 47s

Men have always claimed that there is such a thing as “female nature” and described it with great authority – but throughout history, women have refused to conform to the strict view of what is masculine and feminine - from fierce jousting medi

6. Normal Women...are a weaker vessel

Nov 30th, 2023 51m 27s

Bitten, spat on, denounced - in the 1990s newly-ordained women were met with fury by a vocal minority. But women have always played an important role in the Church, as mystics, the heads of religious houses, saints or simply as normal women see

5. Normal Women...think about rape

Nov 23rd, 2023 49m 37s

Throughout history women have faced the threat of sexual violence and, sadly, it's no different today. Philippa explores how rape was viewed as a crime against a man’s property, how courtly love gave way to brutal desire and the difficulties wo

4. Normal Women...are underpaid

Nov 16th, 2023 46m 5s

Whether you are on the Board or in the kitchen, a medieval peasant or modern day medic, a Victorian street-sweeper or eighteenth century hand-spinner - if you are a woman, there’s every chance you are underpaid. So why is that? Explanations var

3. Normal Women...love women

Nov 9th, 2023 49m 38s

Sapphism, the Cult of the Clitoris, coded diaries and a bower of bliss - Philippa Gregory tells the story of women who love women, and those who tried to stop them. We hear from famous lesbians including Queen Anne and Gentleman Jack and less

2. Normal Women...are angels

Nov 2nd, 2023 45m 34s

Just how should women behave? Throughout History, they have so often been expected to act as genteel ladies and confined to the home - often described as the 'angel in the house'. But far from remaining passive, many used their influence to put

1. Normal Women...riot!

Oct 25th, 2023 46m 49s

Philippa tells the story of women rebels and rioters - from the leaders of the Peasants' Revolt to those arrested at the vigil for Sarah Everard. We hear from 'Captain' Ann Carter, leader of a seventeenth century food riot, hanged by the author

Philippa Gregory's Normal Women - Coming soon

Oct 13th, 2023 3m 15s

A new eight-part series starts on the 26th October.Normal Women is a radical retelling of our nation’s story – not of the rise and fall of kings and the occasional queen – but of social and cultural change, powered by the determination, persist

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