The mystery of the Missing Roanoke Colony is a pretty good story by itself, but it turns out that everything that led up to it was a mad comedy of errors. This week on That Time When, Barnaby tells us about the two expeditions that set the stage for the attempt at a first permanent colony in North America. Expect ridiculous storms, a lack of basic diplomacy, and the utter failure to keep a hold of ships with food supplies. Next week: the mystery itself!

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Amelia has managed to find a very obscure French story that may well have... *ahem* inspired Alexandre Dumas to write The Count of Monte Cristo. This has everything: romance, betrayal, false imprisonment, vengeance, elaborate murder, and parrot slaying. You'd think it was all made up!

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Imagine getting a knock at the door only to discover hoards of people who tell you that they've come to deliver various goods and services that you never asked for, and they probably want paying for it too. That was the experience Mrs Tottingham of 54 Berners Street had in 1810. In this episode of That Time When, we look at the Berners Street Hoax, the man behind it and why he was just the worst, and question whether or not the whole story ever happened.

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Amelia is back in the hosting seat this week and brings us a story that may have inspired a very well known character from gothic literature. William 'Deacon' Brodie was a very well-to-do locksmith from Edinburgh who had a sneaky little side business to help fund his double-life. Also this week we hear the story of the enemy that defeated Napoleon more soundly than anyone else. Not Wellington, we are talking about rabbits.

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Qin Shi Huang was the first emperor of China and accomplished a great many things, but he was a bit preoccupied with the possibility of his death. This might be because of the increasingly bizarre assassination attempts against him. So of course the only course of action was to build an enormous mausoleum and also search for the secret of immortality, just to make the first part redundant. We try and get pronunciation of names right, but being British they're likely to be a bit off, just to let you know.

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Isn't it always the way that you can come up with an amazing plan and almost immediately it falls apart? This week on That Time When, Barnaby talks about the case of the HMS Carmania and the SMS Cap Trafalgar, which resulted in a surreal moment on the high seas during the First World War. Also featuring a TTW Episodette, where Barnaby tells us about Hieronymous Bosch and the Butt Music... you'll just have to listen.

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The news might try and say that strikes and industrial action are the absolute end of civilization as we know it, but they would do well to hear about the Coal Wars of 1930s Kentucky. This week on That Time When, Barnaby tells us about the bloody history of the Coal Wars which led to gunfights, car bombs, and a pretty banging song written on the back of a calendar page.

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Have you had your fill of Morbius but not of other vampires? That Time When has you covered as Barnaby goes through some of the different types of vampire folklore from around the world. Which is the most scary, and why is it an owl from the Romans that has a very odd kink?

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This week on That Time When, we continue with our story of Ned Kelly. Moving on from dealing in dodgy horses, the Kelly gang decide to set themselves a new goal: create a really big fan club, a fan club big enough that people will be begging you to rob their bank so they can get your autograph. Unfortunately, we also see the downfall of the Kelly gang and how their famous armour fared in a police shoot-out.

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Ned Kelly was one of the most famous bushrangers/outlaws of 19th century Australia, but was he a folk hero or a menace? It's hard to say, especially when some of his crimes have four different accounts of them, and we still don't know which one is true! This week on That Time When, Amelia takes us back to the early years of Ned Kelly, the trials of his young life, his many interviews with his outlaw line-manager, and the crimes that would lead to the formation of the Kelly Gang. Also, Barnaby takes some time to moan about a film he doesn't like.

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