Suranne Jones claims that she has always been fascinated by witches, so she is the perfect choice to present Investigating Witch Trials. It is a two-part documentary, looking at how women throughout history have been labelled as witches and persecuted thereafter. The runtime, for once, is generous – allowing a more reflective approach than the usual slaloming through salient facts until viewers and participants alike crash in an exhausted heap at the end of an hour.
We begin in 17th-century Pendle, which as any northerner knows – and Jones was born and bred in nearby Chadderton – was the site of the first mass execution of witches in England. It happened in 1612, after a muttered imprecation by local woman Alizon Device swiftly took on a terrible life of its own. It led to various other women in her poverty-stricken, already socially outcast family (and their neighbours) being tried and found guilty of witchcraft, and hanged at Gallows Hill.
