How Bloody Was 'Bloody Mary'?
Betwixt The Sheets: The History of Sex, Scandal & Society
History Hit
4.8 • 2.1K Ratings
🗓️ 28 October 2025
⏱️ 39 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Before Mary I was Queen, no other woman had worn the crown of England.
This made her a Tudor trailblazer, and a target.
During her short reign she burned some 300+ people, earning her the nickname 'Bloody Mary'. Was this nickname justified or was it a case of bad press?
Joining Kate today is the fantastic Anna Whitelock, historian and author of books including Mary Tudor: England’s First Queen, to help us get to know this woman.
This episode was edited by Tom Delargy and produced by Stuart Beckwith. The senior producer was Charlotte Long.
Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe.
You can take part in our listener survey here.
All music from Epidemic Sounds.
Betwixt the Sheets: History of Sex, Scandal & Society is a History Hit podcast.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Hi, I'm your host, Kate Lister. |
| 0:02.4 | If you would like betwixt the sheets, add free and get early access, sign up to History Hit. |
| 0:08.7 | With a History Hit subscription, you can also watch hundreds of original documentaries with top history presenters. |
| 0:16.0 | And enjoy a new release every single week. |
| 0:19.8 | Sign up now by visiting history hit.com forward slash subscribe. |
| 0:24.6 | Hello, my lovely betwixters. |
| 0:26.2 | It's me, Kate Lister. |
| 0:27.4 | You are listening to Batwifers Sheets. |
| 0:30.1 | And because we care about you and your safety and your well-being and your general snugglediness, |
| 0:35.6 | I have to tell you, this is an adult podcast, |
| 0:37.8 | poking by adults to other adults about adulty things |
| 0:39.6 | and an adulty way of covering a range of adults subjects, and you should be an adult too. And we call that the fair do's warning, because if you keep listening and you happen to get upset at some of the stronger stuff, well, what can I tell you? Tough. That one's on you because fair do's, we did warn you. Right on with the show. |
| 0:57.1 | Nicknames are cruel. you because fair deuce we did warn you. Right on with the show. |
| 0:59.8 | Nicknames are cruel at the best of times, aren't they? |
| 1:03.0 | And the worst thing about them is they just stick. |
| 1:06.8 | Once someone's giving you a nickname, that can be it for life. |
| 1:14.2 | Just ask Mary Tudor, daughter of the infamous Henry VIII. Her nickname, Bloody Mary, has lasted several lifetimes and is still going strong. And as nicknames go, one that paints you as a mass |
| 1:21.6 | murderer, I mean, that's got a fair bit of stigma to it. But are we doing Mary a disservice with this title? |
| 1:28.5 | Is it fair to call her bloody Mary? |
| 1:31.4 | Is there more to her than meet the eye? |
| 1:33.5 | Was it her religious faith that was driving her to burn all of those people? |
| 1:38.7 | I think we might actually have a hard time redeeming her for this one. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from History Hit, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of History Hit and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.

