Inside the Tower of London, review: a jolly, fact-filled peek inside the Tower
Beefeater tights only come in one size. That was one of the many snippets gleaned from Inside the Tower of London, Channel 5’s entertaining look at life within the walls of one of London’s great tourist attractions. Beefeaters – or Yeoman Warders, to give them their proper name – come in all shapes and sizes, but the ceremonial red tights do not. That’s a lot of hoiking to do if you’re on the small side.
And those ruffs turn out to be made of paper, like the little frills people used to put on turkey legs, which is fine when it’s sunny but soggy in the event of rain. Oh, and the whole ceremonial get-up weighs just shy of 11kg. I could happily have watched an entire series about the lives of these Beefeaters, ex-armed forces men and (two) women who live on site and have such a jolly time that they had to apologise to the Prince of Wales for being a bit hungover on the occasion of his royal visit.
But the show wants to give us a more comprehensive view of the Tower of London, so we were also treated to some history. Dr Tracy Borman, lesser known of the two joint curators of Historic Royal Palaces (the other is Dr Lucy Worsley), made her first appearance of the night on Channel 5. She proved an excellent guide, and gave us the gory bits: Catherine Howard found guilty of high treason, passing beneath the severed heads of her lovers on London Bridge as she was taken to Traitor’s Gate. Later we were shown the chapel where, according to one version of events, Henry VIII ordered Catherine’s body to be destroyed with quicklime.
Back to the present, though, and the informality of the encounters was what made the programme fun. Everyone may have been working furiously to prepare the Tower for the arrival of the Prince – lending substance to the adage that the Royal family think the world smells of fresh paint – but it turned into a jolly and relaxed affair as the Prince posed for a group photo, and the Duchess of Cornwall was told: “We could get you a job as an executioner!” when she deftly cut a birthday cake with a sword.
The warders combine guarding duties with guiding tourists. A woman once approached Lawrence, one of their number, to say she was the reincarnation of Anne Boleyn, and could he show her the place where she was executed? Lawrence responded in the only way possible: “You were there – you should know.”
