It's hard to wrap your head around all the disasters that befell Captain Anson's Royal Navy voyage around the world in the 1740s. Rampant scurvy, horrendous storms, marooning and mutiny to name but a few. 90% of the original crew never returned. Those who made it back to Britain were hailed as he...

Historical would you rather, and with whom? Sound the trumpets! The day has finally arrived: Maddy Pelling is back on After Dark!

To welcome her back into the coven, we're playing a game of historical 'Would You Rather?'. Listen on to hear Anthony and Maddy decide between the many awful scenario...

Born John Cooper, "Princess Seraphina" was one of the first English Drag Queens.

Princess Seraphina was an 18th-century gentleman’s servant who openly embraced her feminine drag persona. But in May 1732, a man named Thomas Gordon robbed her of her clothes and money. The court case that followed...

Dr. Kate Lister is on the podcast to talk about the Affair of the Poisons, the women who were poisoners in French society and their deadly consequences.

In 17th-century France, Louis XIV's court sparkled with luxury. It also teemed with poison, occult rituals and aristocrats trying to murder th...

Dr. Kate Lister is on the podcast to talk about the Affair of the Poisons, the women who were poisoners in French society and their deadly consequences.

In 17th-century France, Louis XIV's court sparkled with luxury. It also teemed with poison, occult rituals and aristocrats trying to murder th...

Deep beneath the sunny streets of Palermo, Sicily, the Capuchin Catacombs are home to over a thousand people, most of them still standing in their Sunday best.

Warning: this episode contains discussions of child death

Why did the residents of the catacombs want to be buried standing up? And how...

Gonorrhea and syphilis are no laughing matter, especially in a time before antibiotics. How were symptoms first recorded, and what were the disturbing treatments people endured?

Joining Anthony today as a special guest co-host is Cat Irving, Human Remains Conservator at Surgeons’ Hall in Edinbu...

What lurks behind the door of Dr. Kahn's Grand Anatomical Museum in Victorian London?

Step inside and find out what shocked the public (and medical establishment) of 19th-century Britain so much that it was eventually forced to close.

To take you there today, Anthony is joined by guest co-hos...

Artemisia Gentileschi's paintings personify female rage against men. She paints women beheading men, hammering nails into their skulls, brandishing their dead faces. In her personal life, Artemisia was the victim of sexual abuse, torture and public shaming. Can we read her traumatic personal life...

This is the story of a fake Princess from far-off lands who hoaxed Georgian Britain. What was the truth of her story? Today we are celebrating the upcoming publication of Maddy's new book 'Hoax: Truth and Lies in the Age of Enlightenment' by sharing one of the stories from it.

Today we are celebrating the upcoming publication of Maddy's new book 'Hoax: Truth and Lies in the Age of Enlightenment' by sharing one of the dark stories from it. The haunting of Cock Lane is the most iconic ghost story in London's long history, taking place in the year 1762. Was it a hoax?

In Ancient Mesopotamia, the boundary between the living and the dead was not always fixed... some even believed it could be crossed. But why would the living seek counsel from the dead? How common were these practices? And what answers did people hope the spirits might reveal?

In this episode, A...

On a summer day in Sarajevo in 1914, a young man fired two rounds of his pistol in the middle of the street, killing a Royal couple... He didn't know it then, but his actions would cause a chain reaction, resulting in the First World War. But who were Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife, the Du...

On the night of Saturday, the 9th of March, 1566, a pregnant Mary Queen of Scots was having a dinner party. It was a night that ended in the brutal murder of one of her closest friends, David Rizzio, led by her husband, Lord Darnley. How did this happen? How did Mary handle this traumatic moment?...

He's known as one of history's most murderous kings, but was he always a monster? Or was he acting in ways expected of a king during his time.

Joining Anthony as special guest co-host is author and historian Gareth Russell, to explore the theories that support the latter.

Did the break from R...

The book and TV series "Outlander" has introduced millions of fans to Scottish history and the story of the Jacobites.

One of those fans is Maddy Pelling! Maddy is back (in a pre-recorded episode) to delve into the tragic story of the Bonnie Prince Charlie and his army.

Joining her today is Dr...

It was the original modern ghost hunt, the one that set the template for all the haunted houses to come. When a wealthy plantation family moves into a crumbling Georgian mansion in the 1760's the haunting begins. By the end, even royalty were on tenterhooks. Eleanor Janega joins Anthony Delaney ...

What happened to the Princes in the Tower? Did Richard III kill them? In this After Dark podcast episode, Eleanor Janega, Anthony Delaney and Matt Lewis answer these questions.

It's one of history's greatest mysteries - 'what happened to the Princes in the Tower?' In 1483, young Edward V and hi...

Eyewitness accounts of life during the Black Death are surprising. Sure, there's horror. But there's also d*ck jokes, complicated scientific theories, and buttock-obsessed priests. Taking Anthony through it all is Dr Eleanor Janega, from our sister podcast 'Gone Medieval'.

Anthony is joined by Eleanor Janega to tell the story of the most famous murder of the medieval world - Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury.

How did a bromance between Thomas and his king turn into a deadly divide between church and crown?

Maddy and Anthony get their Tarot cards read by Melissa Mercury! As well as reading their cards, Melissa tells us about the history of Tarot cards and who is responsible for their iconic design.

Find out why Swords aren't always bad and why the Death card can be good news!

Join Anthony and Maddy for a journey back to 17th-century England to learn about the horrific methods of Matthew Hopkins, the infamous witch hunter.

This episode of After Dark explores the brutal reality of the witch trials, the flawed logic of his "tests," and the manual he wrote that fuelled ...

In 1895, the world witnessed its first true celebrity trial when Oscar Wilde was charged with “Gross Indecency". To tell the powerful story of Wilde's life in its fullness, Anthony and Maddy are joined by Merlin Holland, grandson of Oscar Wilde.

Anthony and Merlin met while Anthony was filming ...

The Victorians had a lot of twisted fascinations, but their fixation on Ancient Egypt might be the darkest of the lot.

From 'mummy unwrapping parties' (yes, really), to gothic stories of romances with mummified bodies and beetles that came to life.

Was this a desire to connect with the past? ...