From Saxon times to the present day, justice has been done and been seen to be done - and for the last thousand years, clerks have toiled away recording the sordid, sad and fascinating details of criminals and their crimes.
In this programme, Bettany Hughes scours the country's archives in a quest to get close to the true history of crime and punishment. In Hampshire, we discover there really were outlaws who held up travellers through the woods, in Essex we find that there were serial petty thieves in the sixteenth century, in London how burglars plied their trade in the seventeenth century and the story of the last aristocrat to be hung.
And as a young Australian traces the crimes committed by his transported ancestors, we see how Britain gradually replaced the harsh regime of flogging and hanging with the very modern world of prisons.
Discover more in the programme transcript.
Breaking the Seal in more depth:
OU on the BBC: Breaking the Seal - Programme One - Domesday
BBC
Introducing an episode in the series 'Breaking the Seal', which traces the growth of public information from the Domesday book to our present day tax... Read more : OU on the BBC: Breaking the Seal - Programme One - Domesday
OU on the BBC: Breaking the Seal - Programme two - Tax
BBC
A programme summary for Tax, the second programme of the BBC/OU's series Breaking the Seal. Read more : OU on the BBC: Breaking the Seal - Programme two - Tax
OU on the BBC: Breaking the Seal - Programme three - Military
Production team
Introducing a programme in the 'Breaking the Seal' series which investigates military records. Read more : OU on the BBC: Breaking the Seal - Programme three - Military
OU on the BBC: Breaking the Seal - Programme four - Church
BBC
Introducing an episode in the series 'Breaking the Seal' which deals with church records. Read more : OU on the BBC: Breaking the Seal - Programme four - Church
OU on the BBC: Breaking the Seal - Programme Six - Land
BBC
Introducing an episode of the 'Breaking the Seal' series which looks at the value of land records and the difficulty of knowing who owns Britain. Read more : OU on the BBC: Breaking the Seal - Programme Six - Land
OU on the BBC: Breaking the Seal - Books
BBC
Find out how to start reading documents - start with some modern books. Read more : OU on the BBC: Breaking the Seal - Books
OU on the BBC: Breaking the Seal - Meet our experts
Production team
Meet the experts featured in the OU's Breaking The Seal series Read more : OU on the BBC: Breaking the Seal - Meet our experts
OU on the BBC: Breaking the Seal - Taking it further: Courses
BBC
Has the series left you hungry for more history? Could our courses be the first step in taking it further? Read more : OU on the BBC: Breaking the Seal - Taking it further: Courses
OU on the BBC: Breaking the Seal - Programme Six - Land
BBC
Introducing an episode of the 'Breaking the Seal' series which looks at the value of land records and the difficulty of knowing who owns Britain. Read more : OU on the BBC: Breaking the Seal - Programme Six - Land
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