Skeletons of the Mary Rose – C4

Skeletons of the Mary Rose: Dr Richard Madgwick, Alex Hildred and Nick Owen examining the skeleton from the Mary Rose
(Image credit: C4)

Scientists attempt to identify the crew of Henry VIII's flagship in Skeletons of the Mary Rose: The New Evidence in a new

Scientists attempt to identify the crew of Henry VIII's flagship in Skeletons of the Mary Rose: The New Evidence in a new C4 one-off documentary

In 1545, Henry VIII’s warship, the Mary Rose, was sunk by the French navy in the Solent.

For hundreds of years it lay in its murky grave, but in 1982 it was brought up from the depths, revealing thousands of artefacts from Tudor England as well as human remains of some of the 500 crew.

But now new advances in science have allowed a team to re-investigate the men who were on board the ship to discover who they really were.

Skeletons of the Mary Rose

Tudor Expert Onyeka Nubia with Alex Hildred

Using DNA analysis, it’s revealed that this royal battleship was not full of white Englishmen but a diverse crew of English, Mediterranean and African descent.

Was the whole of Tudor England much more multicultural than historians have ever thought?

TV Times rating: ***

 

Mandy Cooper
TV Times Highlights Editor

As TV Times Highlights Editor I get to hear about all the latest TV shows coming soon. Here at TVT HQ we are in the privileged position of selecting the best programmes from across all the channels and streaming platforms. Our mission is to make it easier for our readers to decide what to watch - and give them lots of choice of genres - all the latest shows, plus some nostalgic choices we call hidden gems, too. My career began with a postgraduate degree in periodical journalism (ahem, yes old school!) in 1991 and I’ve worked in TV media since 2000.