The Brontës
You're Dead to Me
BBC
4.7 • 11.8K Ratings
🗓️ 2 January 2026
⏱️ 15 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Dead Funny History: The Brontës.
Join historian Greg Jenner for a fast-paced, funny and fascinating journey through the lives of the Brontë sisters, Charlotte, Emily and Anne, three literary legends whose tragic family story inspired some of the greatest novels of the 19th century.
This episode of Dead Funny History is packed with jokes, sketches and sound effects that bring the past to life for families and Key Stage 2 learners. From their Yorkshire parsonage to their tiny books written in doll-sized handwriting, the Brontës were bursting with creativity. But their lives were also filled with heartbreak, illness and rejection.
Discover how the sisters used gender-neutral pen names to get published, how their brother Branwell tried (and mostly failed) to join in, and how their novels, Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights and Agnes Grey, were shaped by their real-life experiences as governesses, teachers and grieving siblings.
Expect parodies, sketch comedy, and a quiz to test what you’ve learned. There’s a mournful bell for every tragic twist and a goat who’s surprisingly good at literary criticism. It’s history with heart, humour and high production value. Perfect for curious kids, families, and fans of You’re Dead To Me.
Written by Jack Bernhardt, Gabby Hutchinson Crouch and Dr Emma Nagouse Host: Greg Jenner Performers: Mali Ann Rees and John-Luke Roberts Producer: Dr Emma Nagouse Associate Producer: Gabby Hutchinson Crouch Audio Producer: Emma Weatherill Researcher: Dr Emmie Rose Price Goodfellow Script Consultant: Dr Amber Regis Production Coordinator: Liz Tuohy Production Manager: Jo Kyle Studio Managers: Keith Graham and Andrew Garratt Sound Designer: Peregrine Andrews
A BBC Studios Production
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, Podcasts. |
| 0:07.6 | Police, drop your weapon! |
| 0:09.9 | In 2025, we were here for the investigators, gangster. |
| 0:14.1 | They were stealing money from wealthy institutions. |
| 0:17.5 | Debt was fair game. |
| 0:18.9 | Murder, they wrote. |
| 0:19.9 | He was a preacher, a good guy. |
| 0:21.4 | But now he's dead. |
| 0:23.1 | It has all the marks of a sort of like a proper horror film. |
| 0:26.3 | And fame under fire. |
| 0:27.8 | He is no longer afforded the right of a regular citizen. |
| 0:31.4 | He is guilty until proven innocent. |
| 0:32.9 | Get the best of 2025 with podcasts on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:40.5 | Hello, welcome to Dead Funny History. |
| 0:42.9 | I'm Greg Jenner. |
| 0:43.7 | I'm a historian and I want to tell you about a cool family. |
| 0:47.3 | The Bronte sisters wrote some of the most famous books of the 19th century. |
| 0:52.0 | There was Charlotte Bronte who wrote the Gothic coming-of-age story Jane Eyre. |
| 0:56.4 | I would always rather be happy than dignified. |
| 1:00.5 | Anne Bronte, who wrote both Agnes Gray and the Tenant of Wildfell Hall. |
| 1:06.0 | He that dares not grasp the thorn should never grasp the rose. |
| 1:10.3 | And Emily Bronte, who wrote the famous |
... |
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