Alexandre Dumas (Radio Edit)

You're Dead to Me

BBC

Comedy, History

4.7 • 10.9K Ratings

🗓️ 14 November 2025

⏱️ 29 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Greg Jenner is joined in 19th-century France by historian Professor Olivette Otele and comedian Celya AB to learn about acclaimed novelist Alexandre Dumas.

Alexandre was born to an innkeeper’s daughter and a legendary Black general who fought for Napoleon. After his father’s death the family grew up in rural poverty, but after a visit to Paris as a teenager, Dumas fell in love with the city and its theatre. Using his father’s connections he found a job there and was soon a successful playwright, before turning his attention to novels. He was a prolific author, writing such blockbusters as The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Christo. But amidst the writing, Dumas also found plenty of time for romantic dalliances, political entanglements, and global travel. This episode explores his extraordinary life and the incredible works of literature he created, set against the turbulent background of French politics in the years after the Napoleonic wars.

This is a radio edit of the original podcast episode. For the full-length version, please look further back in the feed.

Hosted by: Greg Jenner Research by: Emma Bentley Written by: Emmie Rose Price-Goodfellow, Emma Nagouse, and Greg Jenner Produced by: Emmie Rose Price-Goodfellow and Greg Jenner Audio Producer: Steve Hankey Production Coordinator: Gill Huggett Senior Producer: Emma Nagouse Executive Editor: Philip Sellars

Transcript

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0:00.0	BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, Podcasts.
0:07.0	Hello, I'm Emma Barnett. For most of my career, I've been on live radio, and I love it.
0:13.3	But I've always wondered, what if we'd had more time? How much deeper does the story go?
0:19.2	I remember having this very sharp thought that what you do right now, this is it.
0:24.3	This defines your life.
0:26.0	I'm ready to talk and ready to listen.
0:28.3	I'm insulted by how little the medical community is ever bothered with this.
0:33.9	Ready to talk with me, Emma Barnard, is my new podcast.
0:37.0	Listen on BBC Sounds.
0:40.2	Hello and welcome to You're Dead to Me, the Radio 4 comedy podcast that takes history seriously.
0:45.1	My name is Greg Jenner. I'm a public historian, author and broadcaster. And today we are
0:49.1	packing our book bags and travelling back to 19th century France to learn all about the
0:53.5	acclaimed novelist and playwright
0:55.0	Alexandra Dumain. And to help complete our trio of musketeers, we have two very special guests.
1:00.7	In History Corner, she's distinguished research professor of the legacies and memory of slavery
1:04.6	at Soas, University of London. You may have read her wonderful book, African Europeans,
1:09.3	an untold history. And you will remember her for my episode on the Chevalier de Saint-George. It's Professor Olivet Otelais. Welcome back, Olivet. Oh, hello, Greg. Lovely to be back. We're delighted to have you back. And in Comedy Corner, she's an award-winning rising star who won the Chortle Best Newcomer Award in 2022. maybe you've seen one of her sold out live runs at the Edinburgh Fringe or Soho Theatre, I certainly have,
1:30.1	or watched her on out live runs at the
1:27.8	Ennebra Fringe or Soho Theatre, I certainly have, or watched her on TV on live at the Apollo, or heard her on all kinds of podcasts, including off-menu and the guilty feminist. It's Celia A.B. Welcome to the show Celia. Hello, thank you for having me. Oh, it's lovely to have you in. your first time on the show,
1:43.2	which feels like a booking error.
1:44.3	We should have had you on ages ago.
1:45.8	I've been trying to get you on for ages.
	...

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