Walking Tudor England

(Channel 5 Select, 2021)

In this six-part series written and presented by Suzannah for Channel 5, she walks the South Coast, through Yorkshire, the Weald, East Anglia, London and the Midlands to explore Tudor stories and places.

Episode 1 takes Suzannah to the south coast to explore how Henry VIII transformed England into a naval power. She starts at Southsea Castle to the Mary Rose at Portsmouth, via the village of Little Woodham, before reaching Lee on the Solent, and ending up at Southampton, a port which flourished under Elizabeth I.

In East Anglia, Suzannah’s journey takes her from Norwich to Old Hall at Barnham Broom, south Kenninghall where Mary fled for her life, and to Framlingham Castle where she battled to become queen. The final stops are beautiful Lavenham and Cambridge.

In Tudor London, Suzannah goes from Greenwich to London Bridge, through Turnmill Street – the 16th century’s red-light district – through the Tudor pleasure gardens of the Southbank, via episcopal Fulham, down to Hampton Court Palace.

In the Midlands, she visits some of the grandest houses ever built, including Kenilworth Castle and Burghley House, as well as seeing where Mary Queen of Scots was executed at Fotheringhay and a mysterious triangular structure at Rushton Lodge.

For episode 5, she goes to The Weald in Kent and East Sussex, from Henry VIII’s hunting lodge at Penshurst Place, to Hever Castle, a 14th-century coaching inn, Ashdown Forest and through to Mitchelham Priory, once owned by Anne of Cleves.

In Yorkshire, she travels from Pontefract to Clifford Tower, St Mary’s Abbey and St Michael Le Belfry in York, before heading north west to a manor house that played a critical role in rebellion – Markenfield Hall – and back to York.

‘this series is crammed with juicy anecdotes, rattled off with relish. There’s no time wasted on waffle… [Lipscomb] paints a vivid picture of the era with a few well-chosen tales, and strides off to her next destination’

Daily Mail

‘enlightening’

Radio Times

‘riveting stuff’

Guardian