The Rise of the Tudors
You're Dead to Me
BBC
4.7 • 11.8K Ratings
🗓️ 28 April 2023
⏱️ 56 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Greg Jenner is joined by Dr Adam Chapman and comedian Kiri Pritchard-McLean to learn about the rise of the Tudor dynasty.
The Tudors are probably the most famous ruling dynasty in British and English history. But where and when did the Tudor family actually originate? The answer lies in 13th-century Anglesey with a collection of modest landowners, who wouldn’t have called themselves Tudor at all. So how did this titanic royal dynasty spring from these minor Welsh beginnings?
Correction: In this episode, we said that Margaret Beaufort was descended from Edward III and his mistress. She was actually a descendant of John of Gaunt, Edward’s son, and his mistress, Katherine Swynford. Although illegitimate at birth, their children were later legitimised, although barred from the throne.
Research by Caitlín Rankin-McCabe Written by Emma Nagouse, Emmie Rose Price-Goodfellow, Caitlín Rankin-McCabe and Greg Jenner Produced by Emma Nagouse and Greg Jenner Assistant Producer: Emmie Rose Price-Goodfellow Project Management: Isla Matthews Audio Producer: Steve Hankey
You’re Dead To Me is a production by The Athletic for BBC Radio 4.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds Music Radio Podcasts |
| 0:06.7 | Hello and welcome to your Dead To Me, the Radio 4 comedy podcast that takes history seriously. |
| 0:11.6 | My name is Greg Jenner and a public historian, author and broadcaster. |
| 0:15.0 | And for six series, we have silently upheld an editorial rule that you did not know about. |
| 0:19.8 | No tutors, no World War II. |
| 0:21.8 | Well today we are bending our rule. |
| 0:23.8 | We are heading to medieval Wales to explore the tutors before they were famous. |
| 0:28.2 | And to help me unravel their rise, I am joined by two very special guests. |
| 0:32.0 | In History Corner, he's a lecturer in medieval history at the Institute of Historical Research |
| 0:36.1 | of the University of London, where he specialises in late medieval history of Wales and England. |
| 0:41.2 | He's the author of many publications, including his book, Welsh Soldiers in the Later Midlagers |
| 0:45.2 | from 1282 to 1422, very specific. It's Dr Adam Chapman. Welcome Adam. |
| 0:50.0 | Hi Greg. Lovely to have you here and in comedy corner. She's an award-winning comedian, writer, |
| 0:55.1 | podcast and broadcaster. You may have seen her on the tele, on things like Havganese for you, |
| 0:59.5 | Life at the Apollo, Would I Lie to You, and Frankie Boyle's New World Order. |
| 1:03.1 | Best of all, of course, you'll remember her from our episode on medieval animals. |
| 1:06.7 | It's Welsh Wond Woman, Kiri Pritchard McLean. Welcome back Kiri. |
| 1:10.0 | Oh, I'm so glad to be back and I'm so excited to be talking about this because I, |
| 1:15.9 | I mean, it's so funny that you put those rules in for your podcast and I was really disappointed |
| 1:19.8 | because as a historical, basic bitch, I'm very interested in both of those subjects. |
| 1:25.5 | Well, you are, I'm not going to call you basic at all, you are representative of most people. |
| 1:30.9 | Everyone loves these stories, but we decided when we started this show, we wouldn't do those |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.