Netflix: The Lost Pirate Kingdom

It has been a strange old week - a documentary I recorded back in late 2019 finally, through COVID delays made it on air. It got to No.2 on the Netflix charts both in the UK and USA which was more than we had hoped for. I have had lots of lovely messages and declarations of love from internet strangers which considering they lit me to look moody, or rather incredibly tired, is rather gratifying.

Me in between takes - phones are nicer than real cameras!

My memory of filming is rather blurred. I was also recording Making History for Radio 4 at the same time, and straight after shooting my final day I had to go to North Hampton to open at the Screaming Blue Murder comedy night. It really staggers me how much we seemed to cram into a week before the lockdown. It is no wonder I do look exhausted.

My POV

For those interested this is what it looked like from my perspective. I was given some notes, the questions beforehand and I sat down with the director in front of me (the empty chair). We would film for 2 hours, then have a break and go again. I thiiink it was a day and a half to record the lot.

It is a mind stretch when filming things like this. It always reminds me most of taking my A-levels. I certainly start dreaming about exam week at school whenever I have a filming date coming up. The skill is being so certain and invested in the question being asked right now, knowing that in twenty minutes you are going to have to have all the facts about a completely different story or person at you fingertips. I was very glad they let me take my notes in with me.

Worth noting that I am not an expert on pirates in particular, but I’ve made podcasts and done shows about things around the history of the slave trade, the caribbean plantations, Queen Anne, The Spanish War of Succession etc. Reading up for the recording was a pleasure in and of itself. This included reading bits of Defoe as well as more recent books by Colin Woodward and Peter Earle. Being paid to read and research is one of the bonuses of being involved in History Programming.

Of course most of my historical fact nuggets* were ditched in preference for my big gurning mug saying ‘where there are cannon there is gold!’ or, rather wonderfully, my impromptu description of injecting mercury into the bladder. I think I am the ONLY woman (or certainly one of the very few) who has been on TV with her face intercut with a man getting his penis out and it not being sexualised. I am so proud.

(I know it doesn’t do much for my children’s author personna, but I’m considering making ‘Straight into the penis’ a family motto.)

If that scene made you wince, know that the REAL blackbeard would have suffered a long thick needle going all the way into his bladder not the little nub of syringe they demonstrated with on camera. Documentaries are always full of inaccuracies. One of the characters for example mentions the Union Jack (which wasn’t invented yet) and the speed of some of the ships was a little.. well… exaggerated.

However, I do think the history is pretty sound. If you are unfamiliar with the story of the pirates, and why they came to be, The Lost Pirate Kingdom is a good place to start.

If you are looking for someone who can talk with authority about history and inject a bit of mercury into a story, I’m your gal. Arrr!

*Oh Stede Bonnet how I wish we had talked more about thee