TV, FILM & RADIO
Truth, lies and national identity
Royal History’s Biggest Fibs with Lucy Worsley
BBC iPlayer, available now
The title of the Biggest Fibs strand is misleadingly throwaway because Lucy Worsley’s purpose here, for all her lightness of touch as a presenter, is inherently serious. These are documentaries that debunk the kinds of myths and miss-tellings that are treasured by those who believe them – or even have a vested interest in promoting these stories.
The first episode of the latest series finds Worsley interrogating the English Reformation, Henry VIII’s break with Rome. This is often told as a kind of tragicomic soap opera, in which lusty action man Henry was determined to marry his young mistress in the hope Anne Boleyn would give him a male heir. It’s a schism that’s also
