Sin City Episode Guide

Episode Guide

• Bartholomew Babes

  A look at some of the seedier aspects of life in London during the Middle Ages, when freak shows and brothels were commonplace. Bartholomew's Fair offered food, drink and crazy entertainers but medieval Londoners also lived in fear of the pox

• An Infinitude of Pleasures

  Bettany Hughes examines the pursuit of pleasure in 18th-century London, investigating the Covent Garden flesh market, 'hanging holidays' and naked racing in St James's Park. The era also saw day trips to watch the lunatics of Bedlam, as well as gambling on whether a sick man would die and a gin craze that killed thousands

• Loytering Tossepots

  Bettany Hughes presents a history of debauchery in London, continuing with Tudor and Stuart times, when infamous mistress Nell Gwynne distracted Charles II from his duties, football hooliganism reared its ugly head for the first time and coffee was used as a sexual stimulant. Plus, the aphrodisiac recipes of a woman who claimed to have slept with 5,000 men

• The Unmentionable Vice

  In the last episode in the series, Bettany Hughes looks at the history of homosexuality in London and discovers that from medieval cross-dressers to Victorian drag queens, gay culture has existed in the city for centuries despite prejudice and persecution

• Victorian Vices

  Bettany Hughes examines the vices of Londoners during Victorian times, investigating the explosion of pornography, prostitutes walking the streets and the white slave trade. Drug and alcohol abuse was also rife as opium dens and gin palaces sprang up