A unique one hour special that, at the times, celebrated the 150th Anniversary of the birth of Beatrix Potter.

Following in the footsteps of the Edwardian publishing sensation, the JK Rowling of her day, actress Patricia Routledge travels from London to Scotland and the Lake District to discover what fired Beatrix’s imagination and where her love and understanding of animals was born.

Building on her own experience as an actress who played Beatrix on stage in the 1990s and her present role as patron of the Beatrix Potter society, Patricia discovers the woman behind the myth and reveals what led her to write and illustrate the twenty three little tales filled with animal characters with human habits and emotions that so many of us have grown to love from childhood.

With access to rare drawings, letters and artefacts held at the V&A Archive, Patricia leads us into a magical world that captures the pioneering spirit of a genius who made her way firstly in the cut-throat, male dominated Edwardian publishing industry, and then as a leading sheep-breeder and conservationist. The programme explores her legacies in the extensive Lake District properties she left to the National Trust, and of course in her timeless tales.