Explore every episode of the podcast BRISTOL IT’S CRIMINAL?

BRISTOL: IT’S CRIMINAL Chapter 3: Sheila Hannon, Creative Producer of Show for Strength Theatre, is joined once again by Dr Rose Wallis from the University of the West of England to find out what happened to the Skeleton in the Cupboard – an extraordinary conclusion to this dark tale. Sheila and Rose discuss:

• The afterlives of John Horwood and Eliza Balsum, and the impact on their families
• Post-mortem punishment and the Murder Act of 1752
• Medical research in the early 19 th century
• Body snatchers in Bedminster
• The extraordinary part played by Dr Richard Smith
• Phrenology
• And the book of skin

What happened to John and Eliza was not usual. Even after death, they were taken up and used, their stories retold and remade. Did Richard Smith’s actions go beyond the letter of the law? What were his motives? Why was John subject to such extraordinary treatment? You decide…

BRISTOL: IT’S CRIMINAL is back! In CHAPTER TWO, Show Of Strength’s Creative Producer Sheila Hannon is joined by Dr Rose Wallis, Associate Professor of British Social History, to reveal the dark history behind the Skeleton in the Cupboard…. a tale of love, lust, murder, and the medical profession.

Together, Sheila and Rose explore

• The life and death of John Horwood, the first person to be executed at Bristol New Gaol in 1821
• The often-overlooked story of Eliza Balsum
• The machinations of Bristol’s leading surgeon, Dr Richard Smith (yes, he’s the bad guy)
• Gender, injustice and victim blaming in court
• Trial by media
• The local myths and misnomers that surround the trial of John Horwood (and explode a few)
• The spectacle of public punishment

Beyond the crime and its punishment, this case offers a rare glimpse into the lives of young working people at the beginning of the nineteenth century, ones that are far more familiar than we might imagine. But their afterlives were extraordinary. Join us next time for the Skeleton in the Cupboard part 2

Sheila Hannon, Show Of Strength’s Creative Producer, researches and writes the company’s nine (soon to be ten) THEATRE WALKS – true tales of extraordinary people and places in Bristol, Bath and Beyond – and leads several of them.  The story of THE SKELETON IN THE CUPBAORD features in our BLOOD AND BUTCHERY IN BEDMINSTER TOUR see https://showofstrength.org.uk/

Guest: Rose Wallis is a social historian of crime and criminal justice based at the University of the West of England. Rose worked with Show of Strength to explore forgotten working class lives with women in HMP Eastwood Park. Their work was recorded to produce From Bristol to Botany Bay: a film reimagining the experiences of ten women transported to the other side of the world in 1817. Rose’s current book project, ‘Reading the book of skin’, explores the lives - and afterlives - of John Horwood and Eliza Balsum.

Was the most infamous pirate in history actually a Bristol man?

In Episode One of BRISTOL: IT’S CRIMINAL, Sheila Hannon is joined by Bristol-born actor and long-time Show of Strength performer Gerard Cooke to explore the evidence linking Edward Teach — better known as Blackbeard — to Bristol.

Together they dive into:

• The case for Blackbeard’s Bristol origins • The “posh pirate” theory — clergy, merchants and Jamaica • The thin legal line between privateer and pirate • Bristol’s role in Atlantic trade and slavery • Public executions on Queen Square • Press gangs and forced recruitment • The theatre of terror — how Blackbeard built his legend • The brutal final battle of 1718

Behind the smoke, fuses and myth lies a darker story about empire, violence and reputation management.

If Blackbeard was Bristol’s export — what else did the city send out into the world?

Gerard Cooke is a Bristol-born actor working across stage, screen, radio and immersive performance.

He has performed with Show of Strength since 2008 and has led Theatre Walks since 2017 — most prominently as the pirate guide in Blood, Blackbeard and Buccaneers and Treasure Island Story Walk.

Described by the Bristol Post as “a ball of energy… spinning on his heels and regaling us with stories of battles, treasure and grisly ends,” Gerard is best known to audiences as Captain Cuttlefish — tricorn hat, red coat and parrot included.

Combining Sheila Hannon’s research with charismatic delivery and character-driven storytelling, his performances bring seventeenth-century Bristol vividly to life.

In this episode, Gerard steps out from behind the tricorn to explore the history behind the performance — and the uncomfortable truths beneath the romance of piracy.

• Baylus C. Brooks — Quest for Blackbeard: The True Story of Edward Thache and His World • Charles Johnson — A General History of the Pyrates (1724) • David Cordingly — Under the Black Flag: The Romance and the Reality of Life Among the Pirates • E.T. Fox — research into early Blackbeard sources • UK National Archives — Admiralty and privateering records • Jamaican parish records (late 17th century)

(00:00) Intro — Was Blackbeard Bristol Born? (00:40) “Edward Teach of Redcliffe” — The Bristol Claim (01:30) The Records That Vanished — Redcliffe & WWII Bombing (02:15) Jamaica, Burial Records & The Expanding Paper Trail (03:30) The “Posh Pirate” Theory — Clergy, Merchants & Plantation Wealth (05:15) Pirate or Privateer? The “Piece of Paper” That Changed Everything (06:45) Queen Square — Public Hangings & Bristol’s Pirate Past (07:45) Branding Fear — Smoke, Slow Fuses & Psychological Warfare (09:10) Press Gangs, The Queen’s Shilling & The Hole in the Wall (10:45) Treasure, Doubloons & The Pop-Culture Pirate Myth (12:00) The Final Battle (1718) — Lieutenant Maynard’s Trap (13:20) Five Shots, Twenty Cuts — The Death of Blackbeard (14:00) The Skull, The Legend & What Bristol Chooses To Remember