Suranne Jones investigates Pendle witch trials
Actress Suranne Jones is investigating the Pendle witches for a new TV series.
The Dr Foster star will be seen visiting Pendle, Lancashire, where one of the most infamous witch trials took place in 1612.
Ms Jones, who appeared in Coronation Street between 2000 and 2004, also travels to Germany, and to Massachusetts in the USA where the Salem witch trials took place in the 1690s.
Hailing from Oldham, around 35 miles from Pendle, she had assumed tales of the witches were widely known.
"But of course now people have said, on no we didn't really know about Pendle," she said.
She added: "I am really interested in fairy tales and witches and folklore.
"I love that I am drawn to these women who... are wild, of nature.
"There is a resurgence in the use of spells and witchcraft and the term witch.
"So we wanted to link it and we spoke to lots of amazing academics."
Executions
The Pendle witch trials were held after a woman called Alizon Demdike cursed a pedlar who would not give her any pins.
The pedlar collapsed and his son reported it to an ambitious local magistrate, Roger Nowell.
Demdike confessed to bewitching the pedlar but also accused her neighbours, who the family were having a feud with, of bewitching and killing four people.
The neighbours pointed the finger straight back at Demdike, accusing her of witchcraft.
The resulting trials would see 10 people executed, including Demdike's entire family.
The first episode of Suranne Jones: Investigating Witch Trials airs on Channel 4 on Sunday 23 June.
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