The Great Stink of 1858
The Great Stink of 1858
In the sweltering summer of 1858, Londoners were plagued by a foul stench so pungent that Queen Victoria herself was ‘half poisoned’. The excrement of nearly 3 million citizens was plunging into the Thames each day and being carried to and fro by the tides. The stench was so extreme that it drove members of parliament from the House of Commons, as they fled to the countryside. In desperation, and with hankies clutched to their noses, lawmakers agreed that action needed to be taken immediately to rid London of ‘the evil odour’.
Over two episodes Dr. Xand van Tulleken and Raksha Dave attempt to understand this summer crisis, believed to be the cause of disease and death. With the help of a special effects expert, Raksha Dave recreates the horrors of everyday life on the Thames in 1858. Xand also investigates a Victorian waterworks to discover if Londoners were really drinking from horribly contaminated waters.