Mystic Britain

Clive Anderson provides the humour, anthropologist Mary-Ann Ochota the expertise in this grimly fascinating trot through superstitions in medieval Britain. It’s a world of demons, curses, spells and cawing crows. Because there’s nowt more medieval than a crow in a graveyard.   

And Clive looks bizarrely crow-like when he tries on a macabre “plague doctor’s” outfit at London’s Wellcome Collection, complete with stick for prodding the afflicted and beak for protection against putrid air. Period expert Dr Brenner looks utterly unimpressed at Clive’s attempts at humour. And as if that wasn’t bad enough, Mary-Ann tries out a hex on him — in the process realising his name backwards is Evil C.