Lady Killers with Lucy Worsley

In this new series Lucy Worsley switches her attention from Lady Killers to Lady Swindlers - con women, thieves and hustlers. This is where true crime meets history - with a twist. Lucy and her team of all female detectives travels back more than a hundred years to revisit the audacious and surprising crimes of women trying to make it in a world made for men. This time Lucy is in London telling the story of Madame Rachel - Sarah Rachel Russell - an utterly ruthless Victorian beauty scammer and blackmailer who promises her clients she will make them ‘beautiful for ever’. Madame Rachel’s exotic salon in Bond Street attracts the rich, and the posh, and – so she claims – the royal family. Her beauty products sell for outlandish prices. But when she turns to extortion and blackmail the full extent of her swindles are revealed. With Lucy to explore Madame Rachel’s story is the journalist and beauty editor Anita Bhagwandas, author of Ugly: Giving us back our beauty standards . They discover how Madame Rachel preys on the insecurities of women to sell her products, and how her notoriety fuels debates in Victorian England about the immorality of cosmetics and how much control women should have over their finances. Lucy is also joined by historian Professor Rosalind Crone. They visit the site of Madame Rachel’s salon in Bond Street, and London’s Central Criminal Court, the Old Bailey, where Madame Rachel’s career ended in disgrace – and where the truth about what was actually in her beauty products was finally revealed. Lucy wants to know: is Madame Rachel a pioneering Victorian businesswoman or is she the biggest beauty scammer of her day? And why are women today still in thrall to the beauty industry selling them promises of youth and beauty?Producer: Jane Greenwood Readers: Clare Corbett and Jonathan Keeble Singer: Olivia Bloore Sound Design: Chris Maclean Executive producer: Kirsty Hunter A StoryHunter production for BBC Radio 4.If you're in the UK, listen to the newest episodes of Lady Killers first on BBC Sounds: https://bbc.in/3M2pT0K

In this brand new series Lucy Worsley switches her attention from Lady Killers to Lady Swindlers - con women, thieves and hustlers. This is where true crime meets history - with a twist. Lucy and her team of all female detectives travel back more than 100 years to revisit the audacious and surprising crimes of women trying to make it in a world made for men. In this episode Lucy is exploring Sophie Lyons, pickpocket, blackmailer and conwoman extraordinaire, known as the infamous Queen of the Underworld. Born in Germany in the late 1840s, aged 8 Sophie moves to New York, USA. She is taught from an early age to steal and pickpockets, and is in jail from the young age of 12. She becomes a career criminal, constantly crafting new schemes and disguises to make money. But in her later years, Sophie has a change of heart and encourages others to stay away from a life of crime such as hers. She even writes a book: ‘Why Crime Does Not Pay’.With Lucy to explore Sophie’s story is Guest Detective, Evy Poumpouras, former NYPD officer, criminal investigator, interrogator, and ex special agent with the US Secret Service. Being a first-generation American herself, Evy discusses Sophie’s experience as an immigrant in underworld New York and how women are drawn into crime to survive. Lucy is also joined by biographer Barbara Gray, who is writing a book on Sophie. Barbara visits the site of Sophie’s childhood home to tell us about what life was like as an immigrant in 1850s New York. And she explores the veracity of Sophie’s memoirs, asking the question - how much can we trust her? Lucy wants to know: is Sophie’s reform genuine, or just another scheme to make money? Can a career criminal ever truly give up crime? Producer: Hannah Fisher Readers: Laurel Lefkow and Jonathan Keeble Sound Design: Chris Maclean Executive producer: Kirsty Hunter A StoryHunter production for BBC Radio 4.If you're in the UK, listen to the newest episodes of Lady Killers first on BBC Sounds: https://bbc.in/3M2pT0K

Lucy Worsley, historian Professor Rosalind Crone and author and journalist Helen Lewis, explore the lives of four notorious Lady Swindlers. They’ll be discussing underworld boss Tilly Devine, fake heiress Violet Charlesworth, queen of shoplifting Alice Diamond and fake Princess Mary Baker a.k.a. “Princess Caraboo”. These women - through cunning and bravado - carve out notorious reputations and leave unforgettable legacies that we’re still talking about today. Lucy and her guests imagine what our Lady Swindlers lives would look like now. Would they have become internet famous and built personal brands? Or would their audacity led to them being cancelled? They also discuss how our swindlers manipulate perceptions and navigate their world to live the lives they dreamed of, unapologetically. From Princess Caraboo's elaborate cosplay and Violet Charlesworth’s audacious lifestyle to Tilly Devine's criminal empire, the series paints a vivid picture of women who dared.Producer: Riham Moussa Readers: Clare Corbett and Jonathan Keeble Sound Design: Chris Maclean Executive producer: Kirsty Hunter A StoryHunter production for BBC Radio 4If you're in the UK, listen to the newest episodes of Lady Killers first on BBC Sounds: https://bbc.in/3M2pT0K

In this episode of Lady Swindlers, Lucy Worsley meets Violet Charlesworth, an heiress with a taste for the high life. From her family home in North Wales, Violet drives the length and breadth of the country in her expensive motorcars, accompanied by pedigree pooches and dripping with diamonds. Lucy asks: is there more to her than meets the eye?She is joined by iconic crime writer Denise Mina (‘Garnethill Trilogy’, ‘Three Fires’) and Lady Swindlers in-house historian Professor Rosalind Crone to find out all about Violet’s prodigious spending habit and looming debts.The whole country is shocked when, late one night in January 1909, Violet loses control of her car on her way home from Bangor. It looks like she’s hit the wall that lines the coast road and shot through the windscreen and down the cliff face, but there is no sign of her body and her family are apparently unconcerned.Lucy’s investigative trio look at the wall-to-wall media coverage of Violet’s disappearance. They hear from Welsh historian Elin Tomos at the crash site, which is still known as Violet’s Leap, and at the Charlesworths’ house, Bôd Erw in the village of Llanelwy/St Asaph. They consider the new freedoms women were exploring at the beginning of the early 20th century and the idea of the New Woman – independent, educated and openly feminist.Together, they ask: what motivated this audacious woman? Can we sympathise with her? Was she, truly, a woman ahead of her time?Producer: Sarah Goodman Readers: Clare Corbett, Iwan Fôn and Jonathan Keeble Location Historian: Elin Tomos Sound Design: Chris Maclean Executive producer: Kirsty Hunter A StoryHunter production for BBC Radio 4.If you're in the UK, listen to the newest episodes of Lady Killers first on BBC Sounds: https://bbc.in/3M2pT0K