Episode 71 preview:

In episode 71 we talk with Gill Hornby, author of the best-selling novel Miss Austen which has been adapted for a 4-part series premiering on MASTERPIECE on PBS May 4, 2025 (check local listings).

The complete podcast (Episode 71) featuring this conversation with Gill Hornby will be published Tuesday, April 29. 

MISS AUSTEN seeks to unravel the historic literary mystery by reimanging Cassandra Austen’s act of sisterly love in burning the letters of her famous author sister Jane Austen after Jane’s death in 1817.  

Subscribe to Historical Drama with The Boston Sisters® on your favorite platform so you won’t miss this great conversation with Gill Hornby.

In episode 70, we go behind the scenes of CALL THE MIDWIFE with Jenny Agutter who portrays Sister Julienne in the series. Jenny Agutter has been with CALL THE MIDWIFE since the series premiere in 2012. CALL THE MIDWIFE is enjoying its 14th season on PBS.

Created and written by Heidi Thomas, CALL THE MIDWIFE is based on the trilogy of memoirs by Jennifer Worth about her experiences as a midwife nurse in London’s East End during the 1950s (Season 14 is set in 1970). The series presents moving and intimate stories that capture the history and work of British midwifery with the characters’s personal and the Poplar community’s struggles with illness, addiction, domestic violence, xenophobia and racism, poverty, displacement, death and grief.

During the conversation, Agutter emphasizes the show's focus on humanity, empathy, and community, and its accurate portrayal of midwifery practices.

--------

TIMESTAMPS

0:08 - Introduction to Historical Drama with The Boston Sisters podcast

1:28 - CALL THE MIDWIFE show overview and themes

4:01 - Jenny Agutter on CALL THE MIDWIFE's popularity

6:10 -  Season 14 themes and social issues

11:41 - Historical and medical accuracy in CALL THE MIDWIFE 

15:00 - Medical impact of CALL THE MIDWIFE 

21:15 - Sister Julienne's role and character arc

27: 59 - Empathy and community in CALL THE MIDWIFE

31:12 - Public health versus community care and health

34:12 - Sister Julienne's leadership and community support

35.12 - Future of Nonnatus House

40:00 - Where to catch CALL THE MIDWIFE (PBS, Netflix)

40:33 - Books related to CALL THE MIDWIFE

42:22 - Disclaimer

SUBSCRIBE to the podcast on your favorite podcast platform

ENJOY⁠ past podcasts and bonus episodes

⁠SIGN UP⁠ for our mailing list

SUPPORT this podcast ⁠ SHOP THE PODCAST⁠ on our affiliate bookstore

Buy us a Coffee! You can support by buying a coffee ☕ here — ⁠buymeacoffee.com/historicaldramasisters⁠

Thank you for listening!

In episode 70, we go behind the scenes of the drama series CALL THE MIDWIFE with Jenny Agutter who portrays Sister Julienne. Jenny Agutter has been with CALL THE MIDWIFE since the series's premiere in 2012. CALL THE MIDWIFE is enjoying its 14th season on PBS.

Created and written by Heidi Thomas, CALL THE MIDWIFE is based on the trilogy of memoirs by Jennifer Worth about her experiences as a midwife nurse in London’s East End during the 1950s (Season 14 is set in 1970).

In the preview for episode 70, Jenny Agutter talks about why CALL THE MIDWIFE is a series for our times.

The complete podcast is available April 8, 2025. 

In episode 69 we spotlight the PBS Masterpiece series WOLF HALL: THE MIRROR AND THE LIGHT with a behind-the-scenes visit to the Folger Shakespeare Library exhibition, “How to Be a Power Player: Tudor Edition” with the curator Dr. Heather Wolfe Curator of Manuscripts for the Folger (in Washington, DC), which holds the world’s largest Shakespeare collection. 

WOLF HALL: THE MIRROR AND THE LIGHT traces the final four years of Thomas Cromwell’s life, completing his journey from self-made man to the most feared, influential figure of his time as a principal advisory to England's King Henry VIII. The series is based on the final novel by Hilary Mantel in the Thomas Cromwell trilogy.

As an added bonus, Heather Wolfe shared documents from the Folger collection for the real-life Thomas Cromwell, Henry the VIII, and Henry's 4th wife, Anne of Cleves,. Go to the podcast website (for Ep. 69) to see images of these artifacts and for more information about the Foger Shakespeare Library's exhibit "How to Be a Power Player: Tudor Edition" on display through July 2025.

------

TIMESTAMPS

0:19 - A Visit to the Folger Shakespeare Library (Washington, DC)

0:56 - Folger “How to Be a Power Player: Tudor Style” exhibit

2:02 - “Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light” overview and cast

3:18-  Heather Wolfe, Curator of Manuscripts at Folger Shakespeare Library

3:30 - Roles and Responsibilities of Curator of Manuscripts

4:22 - Paleography, the study of handwriting

5:14 - Inspiration behind “How To Be A Power Player: Tudor Style” and relevance to 2025

6:48 - Tudor power players' relationships, skills, and power dynamics

7:38 - Tudor "playbooks" from Machiavelli and Castiglione 

12:19 - Power dressing, fashion policing, and personal branding in Tudor times

15:13 - Hospitality power plays: napkin folding and meat carving

22:48 - Break

23:32 - Thomas Cromwell, Henry VIII, and Anne of Cleves artifacts and letters

29:57 - Class status and social mobility in Tudor Times

32:36 - Women's power and influence in the Tudor court

36:09 - Visitor takeaways from “How to Be A Power Playe: Tudor Edition”r exhibit

38:21 - Folger Shakespeare Library resources

38:50 - How to watch “Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light” on PBS “Masterpiece”

41:04 - Disclaimer

SUBSCRIBE to the podcast on your favorite podcast platform

LISTEN to past podcasts and bonus episodes

SIGN UP for our mailing list

SUPPORT this podcast  SHOP THE PODCAST on our affiliate bookstore

Buy us a Coffee! You can support by buying a coffee ☕ here — buymeacoffee.com/historicaldramasisters

Thank you for listening!

March has been a busy month for the Boston Sisters. This is an extended trailer for Episode 69.

The complete podcast will be available for download Thursday, March 27th where we spotlight  the PBS MASTERPIECE series WOLF HALL: THE MIRROR AND THE LIGHT and our visit to the Folger Shakespeare Library in DC for the exhibit "How to Be a Power Player: Tudor Edition."

Our guest for Episode 69 is Dr. Heather Wolfe, curator of manuscripts and curator of the exhibition “How to Be a Power Player: Tudor Edition.” The trailer for Ep. 69  also includes a clip from a previous podcast (Episode 60) released in October 2024 with PBS MASTERPIECE executive producer and head of scripted content Susanne Singer who gave a preview of WOLF HALL: THE MIRROR IN THE LIGHT (now broadcasting) and other MASTERPIECE dramas. 

Subscribe to “Historical Drama with The Boston Sisters” so you won’t miss Episode 69 featuring our conversation with Dr. Healthier Wolfe of the Folger Shakespeare Library about Thomas Cromwell and what it takes to be a power player in Tudor times.

------

SUBSCRIBE to the podcast on your favorite podcast platform

LISTEN to past past podcasts and bonus episodes

SIGN UP for our mailing list

SUPPORT this podcast  SHOP THE PODCAST on our affiliate bookstore

Buy us a Coffee! You can support by buying a coffee ☕ here — buymeacoffee.com/historicaldramasisters

Thank you for listening!

In episode 68 we explore themes of time, place, race and identity in BLITZ , the 2024 World War II drama written and directed by Academy and BAFTA-Award-winning filmmaker Steve McQueen. BLITZ is told from the unique perspective and epic journey of a 9-year-old biracial boy named George (played by newcomer Elliott Heffernan) whose mother sends him from London to safety in the English countryside. But George doesn’t want to go to the countryside and be separated from his mother and grandfather Gerald (Paul Weller). Defiant and determined George makes his escape to return home to East London.

Our guest, Tré Ventour-Griffiths, is a multiply-disabled historian, creative writer, and sociologist with interests in Black histories, race and disability, pop culture and insurgent politics. His PhD research uses creative storytelling methods to consider a multigenerational story of Caribbean Northants (Northamptonshire) Post-1942. 

------

TIMESTAMPS

0:56 - Exploring Blitz World War 2 Historical Context

3:44 - Introduction to Tré Ventour-Griffiths

5:12 - Tré Ventour-Griffiths's Research and Scholarship

15:10 - Time and Relativity in BLITZ

25:33 - Black rural and town peoples in the UK

29:42 - Generic Break

30:18 History of Racial Hostilities in UK, Social, Economic and Sexual Policing

43:55 - Empire Arcade -- Representation and Racism in British Culture and Art

51:34 - Desire for Historical Representation of Black Children as Children

54:30 - Where to Watch BLITZ

56:17 - Disclaimer

SUBSCRIBE to the podcast on your favorite podcast platform

LISTEN to past podcasts and bonus episodes

SIGN UP for our mailing list

SUPPORT this podcast  SHOP THE PODCAST on our affiliate bookstore

Buy us a Coffee! You can support by buying a coffee ☕ here — buymeacoffee.com/historicaldramasisters

Thank you for listening!

In episode 68 of “Historical Drama with The Boston Sisters” we explore World War II from the unique perspective and journey of a 9-year-old biracial boy named George (played by newcomer Elliott Heffernan) in the 2024 film BLITZ. BLITZ is written and directed by Academy and BAFTA  Award- winning filmmaker Steve McQueen. Our guest, is Tré Ventour-Griffiths, a multiply-disabled historian, creative writer, and sociologist based in Northampton U.K.

The preview features a discussion about a particular scene in the film when George walks inside the "Empire Arcade" in London.

Episode 68 is available March 11, 2025.

Note: Updated for correction of launch date on the slides (Spotify users)

Boycotts have been a strategy and tactic for advancing social and economic justice, especially when laws, courts, or government are not on the people's side as they were for Black citizens in 1955. In Ep. 67 Michon and Taquiena (aka The Boston Sisters) talk about why they highly recommend the 2001 HBO film BOYCOTT.

Directed by Clark Johnsonand based on the book Daybreak of Freedom by Stewart Burns BOYCOTT chronicles the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott, where a 26-year old minister named Martin Luther King ,Jr (Jeffrey Wright) was called by the community to lead a local movement that ended segregation on public transportation in Montgomery and throughout the United States.

-------

Timestamps

0:00 INTRO to Podcast

2:53 Montgomery Bus Boycott historical background

4:06 Why Michon and Taquiena recommend BOYCOTT film

8:59 Martin Luther King Junior at 26, young minister, husband, father, reluctant leader

13:19 - Montgomery Bus Boycott from one day to 13 months

14:52 - Overcoming roadblocks, arrests, disruptions to the boycott 

19:22 - A Black community organizing and pulling together

20:42 - Resource: Putting the Movement Back In the Civil Rights Movement (Teaching for Change)

22:36 - Charles Hamilton Houston challenges "separate but equal" segregation in the courts

23:36 - Bayard Rustin and Gandhian nonviolence

26: 42 - Hidden history: nonviolence and violence-based strategies in Civil Rights Movement

29:23 - History is choices

31:23 - Many voices, one movement -- what the Montgomery Bus Boycott achieved

34:02 - Where to find BOYCOTT film

SUBSCRIBE to the podcast on your favorite podcast platform

LISTEN to past podcasts and bonus episodes

SIGN UP for our mailing list

SUPPORT this podcast  SHOP THE PODCAST on our affiliate bookstore

Buy us a Coffee! You can support by buying a coffee ☕ here — buymeacoffee.com/historicaldramasisters

Thank you for listening!

The Boston Sisters (Michon and Taquiena) end the month of February -- Black History Month -- with a conversation about an historical drama selected from their watch list: the 2001 HBO film BOYCOTT. 

BOYCOTT chronicles the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott, where a 26-year old minister named Martin Luther King Junior (Jeffrey Wright) was called by the community to lead a local movement that ended segregation on public transportation in Montgomery and throughout the United States.

In Episode 66, we dive into the feature filmTHE SIX TRIPLE EIGHT withBrenda L. Moore, associate professor of Sociology at the University at Buffalo College of Arts and Sciences, and author of “To Serve My Country, To Serve My Race: The Story of the Only African American WACS Stationed Overseas During World War II" (New York University Press). 

THE SIX TRIPLE EIGHT film and Professor Moore’s book tell the story of the 6888th battalion, the first and only Women’s Army Corps (WAC) unit of color to serve overseas in World War II, and the extraordinary mission of these unsung heroes who delivered hope and shattered barriers. The film is directed by Tyler Perry and featuresKerry Washingtonas Major Charity Adams and an ensemble cast.

THE SIX TRIPLE EIGHT is available on Netflix.

Spoiler alert: Some discussion about key scenes in the film.

-----

TIMESTAMPS

0:16 - Introduction to podcast

2:13 - Professor Brenda L. Moore intro

4:18 - Professor Moore's military research

7:06 - Professor Moore discovers The Six Triple Eight Battalion 

12:13 - History of Women's Auxiliary Army Corps and Woman's Army Corps (WAC)

16:36 - Challenges and Achievements of The Six Triple Eight

19:58 - Black Military Women's Leadership, Community, and Support 

23: 50 - Impacts of World War 2 on Black women

51:33 - Modern parallels and continued challenges re: race and gender in military

1:00:21 Black women nurses in WW2 and other subjects for historical drama

1:03:03 Watch and read for The Six Triple Eight story

1:05:10 Disclaimer

-----

SUBSCRIBE to the podcast on your favorite podcast platform

LISTEN to past podcasts and bonus episodes

SIGN UP for our mailing list

SUPPORT this podcast SHOP THE PODCAST on our affiliate bookstore

Buy us a Coffee! You can support by buying a coffee ☕ here —buymeacoffee.com/historicaldramasisters

Thank you for listening!