Originally transmitted on BBC1, 10th and 11th April 1998.  A BBC TV production in association with the Arts and Entertainment network.

It seemed like just suicide. But what made Dr Sarah Blakeney shiver was the scold’s bridle, decorated with nettles and daisies, strapped to the old women’s face. In the middle ages the metal bridle had been an instrument of torture and restraint – curbing the tongue of nagging women. Mathilda Gillespie had been a strong –minded, some would say ruthless, women. So what did it point to now? Remorse, self hatred…murder? As a new will is found and her diaries disappear it becomes clear that Mathilda was one scold a lot of people wanted silenced.

Starring: Miranda Richardson, Bob Peck, Douglas Hodge, Siân Phillips, Trudie Styler and Beth Winslet