Pressing matters

One can expect the faux-outrage at Gunpowder's execution scenes to continue next week, along with demands for the full number of complaints submitted to the BBC. The Mail Online helpfully embeds clips and links so that you can get really worked up.

The pressing-to-death of Phil Mitchell's lawyer, actress Sian Webber, playing a fictional Lady Dibdale, despite all warnings, may have shocked an audience that was 43% over-65s. It was said to have been based on the trial of Margaret Clitherow, sainted by the Catholic Church. She died in 1586, under a sentence of "peine forte et dure", which in theory was designed just to extract a confession. Margaret was in her thirties, and may have been pregnant. The door was said to have been from her own home, and the weights were more likely stones than cast iron. Contemporary accounts say she died in 15 minutes - it felt much longer for Lady Dibdale on BBC1.