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Episode 2

Episode 2 of 3

Lucy journeys into the Victorian way of love in part two of her series on the changing face of British romance. She discovers how medieval chivalry shaped Victorian courtship.

Lucy Worsley journeys into the Victorian way of love in the second part of her series on the changing face of British romance. She discovers how medieval chivalry shaped Victorian courtship, and explores the influence of valentine's cards and flowers on romantic lives.

Lucy uncovers the way that literary passions - in novels by writers such as Charlotte Bronte, Mrs Henry Wood and HG Wells - translated into real-life desires, changing the way the British felt. This is a new view of the Victorians in love, which takes us from romance on the factory floor to the curious erotic possibilities of the seance.

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59 minutes

Last on

Tue 6 Dec 2022 02:30
±«Óătv Four

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Clips

See all clips from Episode 2 (4)

Music Played

Timings (where shown) are from the start of the programme in hours and minutes

  • Georges Bizet

    Carmen Act 1 L'Amour est un oiseau rebelle 

    Orchestra: London Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Georg Solti. Choir: The John Alldis Choir.

  • William Sterndale Bennett

    Sonata Duo in A Major 

  • FrĂ©dĂ©ric Chopin

    Piano Sonata Number 3 largo 

    Performer: Ă“lafur Arnalds. Performer: Alice Sara Ott.

  • Arvo Pärt

    Spiegel im Spiegel for Violin and Piano 

    Performer: Tasmin Little. Performer: Martin Roscoe.

  • William Sterndale Bennett

    Piano Concerto No. 1 in D Minor 

    Orchestra: London Philharmonic Orchestra.

  • All Angels

    Ave Maria

  • William Sterndale Bennett

    Piano Concerto No. 3 in C Minor 

    Orchestra: London Philharmonic Orchestra.
  • 00:18

    Michael Convertino

    Spiegel Im Spiegal / War

  • 00:57

    They Might Be Giants

    Man, It's So Loud In Here

  • 00:57

    They Might Be Giants

    Man, It's So Loud In Here

Lucy on Charlotte Bronte's "Jane Eyre"

Lucy on Charlotte Bronte's "Jane Eyre"

In Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte set out to prove to her sisters that she could write a romance with a heroine who was small, unimpressive and plain. 

Jane, and the hero Mr Rochester, were perhaps the oddest couple that literature had yet seen when the book came out in 1847, both of them awkward, difficult and stubborn. Mr Rochester was far from the typical Victorian romantic hero. Shockingly, he had committed previous sexual indiscretions and – even more shockingly – told his governess about them. Worst of all, he turned out to be married. But romance was now an unstoppable force. 

Jane and Mr Rochester overcame the obstacles between them, and in the real world too unlikely lovers were coming together despite the barriers of class and law.

Credits

Presenter Lucy Worsley
Executive Producer Michael Poole
Executive Producer John Das
Director Rachel Jardine
Producer Rachel Jardine

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