Witches of Essex — Season 1

Henry VIII's law against witches in 1542 led to thousands of women being persecuted and many burned at the stake. New investigative techniques and historical records are to re-examine the fates of women accused of witchcraft during 16th and 17th-century witch trials in Essex. Rylan and Alice Roberts explores the events, lives, and alleged crimes of those accused, often bringing the stories to life through scripted drama and featuring expert testimony from historians and psychologists.

St Osyth, a village near Brightlingsea in Essex, was home to 14 women who were put on trial for witchcraft, some of whom were duly convicted according to the law of the time. Rylan and Alice Roberts investigate the 1582 St Osyth witch hunt, where a petty disagreement over money spiralled into mass hysteria and death.

Rylan and Alice Roberts visit Manningtree, the focal point for the 1645 witch hunt where self-appointed Witchfinder General Matthew Hopkins orchestrated the persecution of many women accused of witchcraft. He terrorised those accused with brutal Puritan zeal and torture.