Tony Robinson's Cunningcast

Dec 16 2024 33 ep. 45 mins 597

Tony Robinson's Cunningcast Podcast artwork

Tony Robinson is best-known for playing turnip-brained Baldrick who always had 'a cunning plan' in the iconic TV show Blackadder. He's presented countless documentaries throughout his 50-year career, including 20-years on Channel 4's Time Team, inspired by his passion for history and for digging deep into the past to understand more about the present. That's his thing!

In his cunningly curated history podcast, Tony is delving into the weird and wonderful stories that grab him and make him want to know more about the world around us. He’s asking: Why was Stonehenge built? What did the past smell like, was it horrible? Why were pies invented? Why do our dogs love us so much? When did tattoos stop being taboo? What do bones tell us about past humanity? Amongst other intriguing questions...

Along the way, Tony is joined by experts and special guests, including Miriam Margolyes, Stephen Fry, Raksha Dave, John Lloyd, Alice Roberts, Grace Neutral and David Mitchell who help provide some answers.

So join Tony Robinson as he hosts his cunningly curated history podcast. New episodes drop Thursdays.

Tony Robinson's Cunningcast is part of the Acast Creator Network and is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

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CHRISTMAS with CHRISTINA ROSSETTI - Re-release

Dec 16 2024 40 mins

Another chance to hear a Cunningcast Christmas treat: Tony reading his favourite poem ‘Goblin Market’ by Christina Rossetti. He's discussing the context and history of Rossetti’s iconic work with Madeleine Callaghan, Senior Lecturer in Romantic Literature at the University of Sheffield. In his electrifying reading, Tony captures all the magic and strangeness of ‘Goblin

DEMENTIA ACTION WEEK: A Defining Year

May 15 2024 53 mins

To mark Dementia Acton Week, Tony is bringing you a special episode dedicated to the past, present and future of this difficult disease with his expert guest Fiona Carragher, Director of Research and Influencing at the Alzheimer’s Society. Dementia the UK’s number one killer, 1 in 3 people will develop dementia in their lifetime and yet most of us don’t know a great deal abou

BEN ELTON | Blackadder: The Lost Pilot

May 08 2024 40 mins

Ben Elton is on Cunningcast today. Ben was the co-writer on Blackadder Series 2, 3 and 4: they talk about Ben's comedy roots, working on The Young Ones with Rik and Ade and how Ben got the Blackadder gig via a near miss TV sitcom about Madness. They also chew over the highs and lows of working on Blackadder and how Ben and Richard Curtis created 'Adder speak'.Alongside Blacka

A Cunning History of Dr WHO and the WHONIVERSE

May 01 2024 69 mins

Fresh off the back of celebrating 60 years of Dr Who last year and looking ahead to welcoming the 15th Doctor to the blockbuster show, Tony is joined by Sophie Aldred who played Dr Who’s assistant Ace and the writer, broadcaster and Dr Who superfan, Matthew Sweet. Together they look back over an incredible history of this abidingly successful show, sharing all the Whoniverse goss

A Totally Tremendous History of the TURNIP (Baldrick’s Favourite Vegetable)

Apr 24 2024 48 mins

20 years after playing Baldrick, Tony is still stopped in the street and asked where my turnip is! Turnips made him famous, so today Tony is talking turnips in history: have they always been so unloved, a food fit only for animals and peasants like Baldrick, or is this a recent British bugbear? And when did the potato steal their veggie crown? Tony’s guests today are food h

HOWARD GOODALL | Blackadder: The Lost Pilot

Apr 17 2024 23 mins

Today Tony is talking to the composer Howard Goodall CBE, who wrote the now iconic Blackadder theme tune. Howard is one of Britain’s best-known composers of choral music, stage musicals, TV and film scores. He wrote the themes tunes for many hit comedy shows including Red Dwarf, Mr. Bean, The Vicar of Dibley, The Catherine Tate Show, 2point4 Children and Q.I. but like so man

Building The Wall: An Enthusiast’s Guide to HADRIAN’S WALL

Apr 10 2024 58 mins

Marching 73 miles from coast to coast across the narrowest neck of England, Hadrian’s Wall was the north-west frontier of the Roman Empire for nearly 300 years and yet there is still so much we don’t know about it: only 5% of the wall has been excavated and 7% is viable today. Tony is joined by leading archaeologist Richard Hingley and Collections Curator for Hadrian's Wall and

BLETCHLEY PARK: Codebreaking Then and Now

Apr 03 2024 54 mins

Passwords and codes are something we take for granted in the digital age, but this is such a new development and today Tony is going back to a time when making and breaking codes was an almost exclusively high-level military activity: most famously done behind closed doors by the brains at Bletchley Park. He is joined by two people who are giving him the long view on codes and code

A Fan-tash-tic History of FACIAL HAIR

Mar 27 2024 45 mins

Men’s facial hair is very prone to fashions: moustaches and beards are back in, but why is that and what sparks bread trends and facial hair fashions? To help him find out, Tony has invited ‘beard’ historian Alun Withey and male grooming influencer Robin James | Man For Himself. They discuss 17th Century notions of facial hair as a waste product; through barber-surgeons and e

RICHARD CURTIS | Blackadder: The Lost Pilot

Mar 20 2024 58 mins

Today Tony is talking to his old friend and collaborator, the screenwriter Richard Curtis. They share memories of making Blackadder from the early years to how it all ended. Along the way, they discuss Richard’s comedy roots and how he became a top comedy screenwriter: meeting Rowan Atkinson at Oxford Uni; working on Not The Nine O’Clock News; the influence of Fawlty Towers and