Witches of Essex is one of those television shows that could have been created working backwards from its title. “It sounds like Witches of Eastwick!” you can imagine a producer brainstorming. “Can we do anything with that?”
Yes, yes we can. We can put together a three-part documentary about the Essex witch trials, which saw hundreds of people – the majority of them women – accused of witchcraft in the 16th and 17th centuries. Crucially, we can hire everyone’s favourite Essex boy, Rylan (though less favourite since his comments on immigration saw more than 700 Ofcom complaints last month) to present it alongside Prof Alice Roberts.
