Betwixt The Sheets: The History of Sex, Scandal & Society

Behind the impressive relics the Romans left behind lurks a much darker story: that most of Rome was built on the back of enslaved people.

It's shocking to know that up to 30% of Roman society was made up of enslaved people. So how was this represented in every day life? What was life like for different enslaved people in the Roman empire? And was freedom ever a p...

Elizabeth Bathory was a fabulously wealthy Noblewoman accused of torturing and killing some 600 women in the 16th century.

Her story is popularly spoken about as one of history's deadliest women... but is it true? And if it isn't, why has it stuck?

Helping us get to the bottom of these questions is Shelley Puhak, author of

It's the most famous sunken ship in history, but its story is surrounded by a lot of myth.

Were the working classes locked below deck and doomed to drown? Could the Titanic have avoided the iceberg? And most importantly (to us, at least), what sex and scandals took place on board?

Joining Kate today is the marvellous Gareth Russell to talk us through w...

In 1909, the third and final woman hanged in Western Australia was executed. She had murdered three of her step children.

What drove Martha Rendall to kill these children? Why did others in their neighbourhood stand by and not raise the alarm sooner? And how do our understandings of women who kill factor into the evil stepmother figure factor?

This epi...

Malleus Maleficarum may sound like a spell but it is actually almost the opposite. This book was nicknamed the Hammer of Witches, and today we're finding out if it really started the European witch hunts.

Kate is joined by the wonderful Eleanor Janega to talk all things Heinrich Kramer, the monk who wrote the Malleus. Where did his obsession come from? And did his...