In 1882, the threat of assassination was in the air. The year before, Tsar Alexander II was killed by an assassin’s bomb, then in July, American President James Garfield was also murdered. Queen Victoria, on the throne for 45 years seemed vulne

Episode Seven: The Wanderer

May 1st, 2023 34m 57s

Episode Six: The Intruder

Apr 24th, 2023 35m 12s

In March 1868 Queen Victoria’s son Prince Alfred was at a charity event in Sydney, Australia when an Irishman named Henry O’Farrell walked up behind him and shot the young prince at point blank range in the back, just missing his spine. O’Farr

Episode Five: The Soldier

Apr 17th, 2023 40m 44s

In 1846 a soldier named Robert Pate moved to an expensive apartment off Piccadilly - one of the most exclusive areas of London.  Unlike the first four would-be assassins, Robert Pate came from a wealthy family, so for the first time in this ser

Episode Four: The Bricklayer

Apr 10th, 2023 33m 8s

The 1840s were a revolutionary decade. France and Italy had been rocked by revolution; Queen Victoria and Prince Albert feared that Britain might be next. In April 1848, a movement demanding universal male suffrage known as the Chartists annou

Episode Three: The Runaway

Apr 3rd, 2023 37m 29s

Seventeen year-old John Bean worked as a newsvendor in London. His disability - an acute case of curvature of the spine – meant that throughout his life he had been the target of cruel discrimination. In mid-June 1842, just before his 18th bir

Episode Two: The Bankrupt

Mar 27th, 2023 35m 45s

Dr Bob Nicholson explores police archives and rarely seen documents to uncover the story of the second assassin - 19-year-old John Francis, who gave up a successful career as a carpenter in the West End of London to become a tobacconist. The b

Episode One: The Monster

Mar 20th, 2023 40m 19s

During Queen Victoria’s 63-year reign, seven young men, many of them teenagers, made the fateful decision to attack her. After each attempt the news shot through Britain like lightning – journalists, politicians, police and the public all clam

Introducing Killing Victoria

Mar 12th, 2023 3m 40s

During the 63 year long reign of Queen Victoria, seven men took the fateful decision to try to kill her. The seven men were within seconds of changing history - each could have brought the Victorian era to a premature end, yet each has been for

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