Costume dramas are the most dominant way that ordinary people engage with history, so why are we so frequently snobby about them? Dr Emma Southon gives a historian's perspective about the usefulness of costume drama, as well as the pure pleasure of just looking at nice fabrics. We talk Shakespeare in Love, Marie Antoinette, The Lion in Winter, I Claudius, Vanity Fair and even make a pretty good case for A Knight's Tale over Gladiator.

Dr Emma Southon is the co-host of History is Sexy and the author of A Fatal Thing Happened on The Way to the Forum, and Agrippina: Empress, Exile, Hustler, Whore.

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