0:00:02 > 0:00:04Hello and welcome to The One Show - Best Of Britain,
0:00:04 > 0:00:05- with Joe Crowley. - And Angelica Bell.
0:00:05 > 0:00:08And another chance to see some of our favourite One Show films.
0:00:19 > 0:00:24Today we are in a city that was once lumped in with Baghdad, Beirut
0:00:24 > 0:00:26and Bosnia as a place for travellers to avoid.
0:00:26 > 0:00:29Here's a clue. It also begins with B.
0:00:29 > 0:00:32It's since had an incredible transformation
0:00:32 > 0:00:36and this year was named as one of the world's must-see places.
0:00:36 > 0:00:40It's packed with history, culture, events, great food and shopping
0:00:40 > 0:00:42and you might even spot a ship or two.
0:00:42 > 0:00:45And you'll be sure to find some of the friendliest people
0:00:45 > 0:00:47you will ever meet.
0:00:47 > 0:00:50It is of course...Belfast.
0:00:50 > 0:00:53Queen Victoria's favourite city and fast becoming one of ours too.
0:00:53 > 0:00:55On tonight's show.
0:00:55 > 0:00:58Spiders, bananas and a deadly Victorian poisoner.
0:00:58 > 0:01:02Mike has an eight-legged solution for arthritic knees.
0:01:02 > 0:01:05This is amazing. It's an arachnophobes nightmare.
0:01:05 > 0:01:10Joe asks why we only eat one of 100 types of our favourite yellow fruit.
0:01:10 > 0:01:13And the legend of how this became so popular
0:01:13 > 0:01:15and so famous is absolutely riveting.
0:01:15 > 0:01:18And Ruth has a tale of someone I would not want to be married to.
0:01:18 > 0:01:21A Victorian husband poisoner.
0:01:21 > 0:01:24But first, Carrie Grant remembers a forgotten local lass,
0:01:24 > 0:01:27a silent movie star born and bred in this fair city,
0:01:27 > 0:01:29who made it big in Hollywood.
0:01:29 > 0:01:31Now I'm not talking about Hollywood on the road to Bangor,
0:01:31 > 0:01:34I mean the real deal.
0:01:39 > 0:01:41She was a big star.
0:01:41 > 0:01:43She had her name in lights in Hollywood
0:01:43 > 0:01:45and she hadn't even said a word.
0:01:48 > 0:01:53This star of almost 70 silent films hailed from working-class Belfast
0:01:53 > 0:01:56and gloried in the name of Eileen Percy.
0:01:56 > 0:02:00Nearly a century on, there's no glorification of Eileen here.
0:02:00 > 0:02:05Not a plaque, not a statue, nothing.
0:02:05 > 0:02:09In the 1930s, Eileen was the brightest of Hollywood stars.
0:02:09 > 0:02:11Here she's partying with Clark Gable.
0:02:11 > 0:02:13So how did the Belfast girl from Vernon Street,
0:02:13 > 0:02:15who should have been an office girl,
0:02:15 > 0:02:17end up acting the part in Hollywood?
0:02:20 > 0:02:23She would have been living here at number 33,
0:02:23 > 0:02:28it would have been a relatively small house with outside loo.
0:02:28 > 0:02:29As a girl, her educational
0:02:29 > 0:02:32and job opportunities would have been fairly limited.
0:02:32 > 0:02:36- She may have been able to stay on at school until she was 14.- 14?
0:02:36 > 0:02:38Yes, if she was very fortunate,
0:02:38 > 0:02:40but for a lot of women in Belfast where there was a big
0:02:40 > 0:02:43textile industry, they could have left school at 12
0:02:43 > 0:02:45and gone to work half-time in the mill.
0:02:45 > 0:02:48She may have become a typist, but realistically I don't think
0:02:48 > 0:02:53any sort of Hollywood scouts would have picked her up in Belfast.
0:02:55 > 0:02:58Born in 1900, Eileen was only seven
0:02:58 > 0:03:01when she left for America in search of the American Dream.
0:03:01 > 0:03:05The Percys, like thousands of other Irish immigrants,
0:03:05 > 0:03:08settled in Brooklyn and sent Eileen to convent school.
0:03:08 > 0:03:10But Eileen had other plans.
0:03:11 > 0:03:14By 11, she was working as a photographer's model
0:03:14 > 0:03:16and by 15, she'd sashayed her way
0:03:16 > 0:03:19into the chorus line of the famous Ziegfeld Follies.
0:03:21 > 0:03:23The Ziegfeld Follies were extravagant shows on Broadway,
0:03:23 > 0:03:27a little bit scandalous, but certainly not seedy burlesque.
0:03:27 > 0:03:30These shows starred a lot of the major actors of the period.
0:03:30 > 0:03:31Comedians.
0:03:31 > 0:03:34And some very famous beautiful women and she was one of them.
0:03:34 > 0:03:37- How did Eileen come to the attention of Hollywood?- Fairbanks.
0:03:37 > 0:03:38Douglas Fairbanks.
0:03:38 > 0:03:42When he saw her he realised that she had a particular look that he
0:03:42 > 0:03:44thought would be perfect for the camera.
0:03:44 > 0:03:48And lured her to Hollywood on a contract of about 150 per week.
0:03:48 > 0:03:50It would have been a large amount of money,
0:03:50 > 0:03:54but within a few years she was making something like 1,800 per week
0:03:54 > 0:03:56which would be more than most people made per year.
0:03:58 > 0:04:01The movies moved west to catch the Californian sunshine.
0:04:01 > 0:04:04The era of celebrity had arrived and film screenplays
0:04:04 > 0:04:08almost played second fiddle to the fantasy lives of the stars.
0:04:08 > 0:04:11One of the brightest was our Eileen.
0:04:11 > 0:04:14The teenage Miss Percy signed a deal with Fox Pictures
0:04:14 > 0:04:16and across the next two decades,
0:04:16 > 0:04:19the girl from Vernon Street proved she was no one-hit wonder.
0:04:19 > 0:04:23She sparkled in a stunning 64 films.
0:04:23 > 0:04:26So how come no-one round here knows who she is?
0:04:27 > 0:04:31- She's a silent movie star. Never heard of her?- Never heard of her.
0:04:31 > 0:04:32- Not ringing any bells?- No.
0:04:32 > 0:04:34She was what?
0:04:34 > 0:04:36- A silent movie star.- No.
0:04:36 > 0:04:39I know it was something to do with movies or something.
0:04:39 > 0:04:41Oh my gosh, someone knows her.
0:04:41 > 0:04:43I hope she was as good looking as you!
0:04:43 > 0:04:46'And he hasn't even seen Eileen!'
0:04:48 > 0:04:52But in the late-1920s, the movies became the talkies.
0:04:52 > 0:04:54Like the star in The Artist, the struggle to adjust was
0:04:54 > 0:04:57Eileen's problem.
0:04:57 > 0:05:01She looked the part, but with her Belfast accent she didn't sound it.
0:05:01 > 0:05:04Major careers crumble and new careers are born
0:05:04 > 0:05:07because everything becomes not so much about the face any more,
0:05:07 > 0:05:10but instead about the voice and if you were Eileen Percy and you were
0:05:10 > 0:05:14so used to being associated with non-Irish roles,
0:05:14 > 0:05:18this voice, her voice, just simply didn't register with audiences.
0:05:18 > 0:05:21None of Eileen's famous friends could help her.
0:05:21 > 0:05:23She appeared in just five more films.
0:05:23 > 0:05:26But tonight, for the people of Vernon Street,
0:05:26 > 0:05:29we've brought Eileen home in this special premiere.
0:05:29 > 0:05:31Are we ready to meet Eileen Percy?
0:05:31 > 0:05:32All: Yes!
0:05:32 > 0:05:33Let's go.
0:05:40 > 0:05:44- So is he a goodie or a baddie? - He's a bad one.- He's a baddie, is he?
0:05:44 > 0:05:48- Oh, yeah.- The Man From Painted Post is one of Eileen's best films.
0:05:48 > 0:05:51Here, she plays to perfection the role that catapulted her
0:05:51 > 0:05:54into the big time, the love interest of Douglas Fairbanks.
0:05:59 > 0:06:02Eileen died in Beverly Hills in 1973.
0:06:02 > 0:06:04But here, below the Belfast hills,
0:06:04 > 0:06:08the girl from Vernon Street is once again making a name for herself.
0:06:11 > 0:06:13Ah, poor Eileen, thwarted by the talkies.
0:06:13 > 0:06:16Hopefully the locals will take her into their hearts now.
0:06:16 > 0:06:19We're just outside Belfast in the Tudor Cinema in Comber.
0:06:19 > 0:06:22It is a true labour of love.
0:06:22 > 0:06:26It's taken twins Roy and Noel Spence over 30 years to build.
0:06:29 > 0:06:30And we're here with Noel now.
0:06:30 > 0:06:33This is the last thing I'd expect to find in the middle
0:06:33 > 0:06:35of the countryside. How did it come about?
0:06:35 > 0:06:38It was originally, about 40 years ago, a hen house.
0:06:38 > 0:06:42When I moved into the country here I saw the hen house
0:06:42 > 0:06:43and said that has to be a cinema.
0:06:45 > 0:06:47I started to work on it and adapt it
0:06:47 > 0:06:53and expand it and it evolved over the decades.
0:06:53 > 0:06:56I kept on adding bits. Some of them unnecessary, but I couldn't resist.
0:06:56 > 0:07:00- Couldn't resist improvements. - And where did you get the bits from?
0:07:00 > 0:07:02From closed cinemas.
0:07:02 > 0:07:05A lot of cinemas closed in Belfast in the '60s and '70s,
0:07:05 > 0:07:07during the Troubles.
0:07:07 > 0:07:10You know, and I was like a scavenger.
0:07:10 > 0:07:12I was round picking up fittings.
0:07:12 > 0:07:13So you just went in?
0:07:13 > 0:07:15Well, just asked for them.
0:07:15 > 0:07:18They were going to be skipped, they were going to be dumped,
0:07:18 > 0:07:21so I got them and preserved them.
0:07:21 > 0:07:24It's nice to know that they are being maintained.
0:07:24 > 0:07:26Gives this place some real history.
0:07:26 > 0:07:29It does, yeah, all the fittings, are not repro stuff,
0:07:29 > 0:07:32they are all originals which is nice
0:07:32 > 0:07:35and I know exactly where each one came from.
0:07:35 > 0:07:37And who actually comes here and watches films?
0:07:37 > 0:07:42All kinds of groups. Women's Institutes, Mothers' Unions,
0:07:42 > 0:07:47Probus Clubs. A whole variety of groups.
0:07:47 > 0:07:49Most of them elderly, but some of them not.
0:07:49 > 0:07:52For example, last night I had the Northern Ireland Scooter Club
0:07:52 > 0:07:54here watching Quadrophenia.
0:07:54 > 0:07:55And you don't charge, do you?
0:07:55 > 0:07:59I don't charge, no. I don't want to be a business.
0:07:59 > 0:08:03- It's strictly a hobby.- All for the love of it?- For the love of it, yeah.
0:08:03 > 0:08:06Noel, thank you so much for having us, this place is beautiful.
0:08:06 > 0:08:08- You're welcome.- Thank you. Now, Joe, what's up next?
0:08:08 > 0:08:11Well, next we have an action movie or should that be horror?
0:08:11 > 0:08:14With Mike Dilger in spandex. Take a look at this.
0:08:15 > 0:08:16(Where's the popcorn?)
0:08:20 > 0:08:22It's a well-kept secret, but in my spare time
0:08:22 > 0:08:23I'm training to be...
0:08:23 > 0:08:25Spider-Man.
0:08:38 > 0:08:40Now for me, that's not a problem,
0:08:40 > 0:08:43but not many people have my spider-like abilities.
0:08:43 > 0:08:47- Was that all right, mate? - Yeah. Thanks.
0:08:47 > 0:08:49OK, so I'm not there yet,
0:08:49 > 0:08:53but spiders can perform one superhero-like feat,
0:08:53 > 0:08:58they can spin silk that is weight for weight six times stronger than steel.
0:08:58 > 0:09:02It's been said if a giant cobweb were to be constructed
0:09:02 > 0:09:05with the individual strands one centimetre in thickness,
0:09:05 > 0:09:10it would be strong enough to stop a jumbo jet in mid flight.
0:09:10 > 0:09:13Not even Spider-Man could do that.
0:09:13 > 0:09:16Spiders obviously use their webs to catch insects,
0:09:16 > 0:09:20not passing jets, but given its properties,
0:09:20 > 0:09:23scientist realised spider's silk could be useful in medicine.
0:09:23 > 0:09:27It combines great elasticity with superb strength
0:09:27 > 0:09:29and with being an organic protein.
0:09:29 > 0:09:32That means it's got great potential for use in the human body
0:09:32 > 0:09:36to fix injuries to tissues like cartilage and bone.
0:09:37 > 0:09:41So, Nick started by studying some rather special spiders.
0:09:41 > 0:09:42Where are we going?
0:09:42 > 0:09:45- This is the spider factory, here on the right.- Oh, yes!
0:09:45 > 0:09:50This is amazing. It's an arachnophobe's nightmare.
0:09:50 > 0:09:51You wouldn't want to come in
0:09:51 > 0:09:54if you didn't like our eight-legged friends. That's for sure.
0:09:54 > 0:09:56This greenhouse contains
0:09:56 > 0:09:59about 60 large venomous spiders from Australia.
0:09:59 > 0:10:01They're golden orb web spiders.
0:10:01 > 0:10:02They're named golden orb web
0:10:02 > 0:10:04because they spin this beautiful golden silk.
0:10:04 > 0:10:06It's amazing. You can see it here. Look how strong it is.
0:10:06 > 0:10:09That's why we're interested in them, yeah.
0:10:09 > 0:10:13To try and recreate spider's silk,
0:10:13 > 0:10:16Nick needed to get his hands on quite a lot of it.
0:10:16 > 0:10:18It's tricky because a bite
0:10:18 > 0:10:21from one of these spiders would be extremely painful.
0:10:21 > 0:10:24But they've found a surprising method of collecting the silk that
0:10:24 > 0:10:26doesn't hurt the spider.
0:10:26 > 0:10:28Tom is our chief spider wrangler.
0:10:28 > 0:10:30What he's done is he's anaesthetised the spider
0:10:30 > 0:10:33and then he's pinned her down, not harming her in the process,
0:10:33 > 0:10:37and she's quite happily reeling out a strand of spider silk now.
0:10:37 > 0:10:42Each spider can produce about 20 metres of silk in one go.
0:10:42 > 0:10:45And in a couple of days their silk glands
0:10:45 > 0:10:47are full of top-quality silk once again.
0:10:47 > 0:10:49It's really to give us the gold standard,
0:10:49 > 0:10:53the benchmark silk that we can try and make our silks as good as.
0:10:54 > 0:10:58The trouble was, 20 metres of silk per spider
0:10:58 > 0:11:02wasn't enough for the large-scale medical uses Nick needed.
0:11:02 > 0:11:06So he's found a much more prolific spinner, the silkworm.
0:11:06 > 0:11:12And because their silk is weaker, he's turned it into a liquid.
0:11:12 > 0:11:15- So, Nick, this is what you finally end up with, is it?- Yes.
0:11:15 > 0:11:17This is what you'd find
0:11:17 > 0:11:20if you were to cut open a silkworm or a spider's abdomen.
0:11:20 > 0:11:23It's silk before it's been spun into a fibre.
0:11:23 > 0:11:26- It looks like quite sticky mucus, I have to say.- That's right.
0:11:26 > 0:11:28It's a viscose liquid.
0:11:28 > 0:11:30But if you squidge it between your fingers you'll see
0:11:30 > 0:11:31it starts to form strands.
0:11:31 > 0:11:34You're effectively, in a very crude way, spinning silk fibres,
0:11:34 > 0:11:36using your fingers.
0:11:36 > 0:11:38So does that mean you can make super-strong fibres,
0:11:38 > 0:11:40just like you'd see in a spider then?
0:11:40 > 0:11:41Well, unfortunately not.
0:11:41 > 0:11:44Spiders have been doing this for 400 million years
0:11:44 > 0:11:45and we've only been doing it four years.
0:11:45 > 0:11:47But what we can do is turn this into any shape.
0:11:47 > 0:11:50What we've done is to make it into super-strong
0:11:50 > 0:11:56spider silk-like sponges and these are really tough and resilient.
0:11:56 > 0:11:59- Give them a squish between your fingers.- That is so strong.
0:11:59 > 0:12:02It's like really hard rubber, isn't it?
0:12:02 > 0:12:04Because they are rubbery and very strong,
0:12:04 > 0:12:09these pads could be used to replace damaged cartilage in knee joints.
0:12:09 > 0:12:13This would drastically cut the need for artificial knee replacements,
0:12:13 > 0:12:15potentially saving the health service
0:12:15 > 0:12:18hundreds of millions of pounds each year.
0:12:18 > 0:12:20And the great thing about it is just like cartilage,
0:12:20 > 0:12:24it's made out of a structural protein and so in time,
0:12:24 > 0:12:26we think it'll be remodelled and reabsorbed
0:12:26 > 0:12:29and turned back into the original cartilage.
0:12:29 > 0:12:31So, thanks to the spiders' super-strong silk,
0:12:31 > 0:12:33people with knee problems
0:12:33 > 0:12:36could soon have an extra spring in their step,
0:12:36 > 0:12:39just like my Spider-Man stunt double.
0:12:39 > 0:12:42The irrepressible Mike Dilger there.
0:12:42 > 0:12:46Now, no tour of Belfast is complete without seeing the striking murals
0:12:46 > 0:12:50that commemorate the events that have shaped and also shaken this city.
0:12:50 > 0:12:52And Aiden is one of the guys who
0:12:52 > 0:12:54takes tourists around the streets of Belfast.
0:12:54 > 0:12:55It's fair to say that there's
0:12:55 > 0:12:58so much history steeped in Belfast, isn't there?
0:12:58 > 0:13:00Yeah, we're lucky to have it, we've a really unique story.
0:13:00 > 0:13:01We've lots to tell people.
0:13:01 > 0:13:03We have a positive story
0:13:03 > 0:13:05and we're really glad everyone's come to have a look.
0:13:05 > 0:13:07So, who paints the murals?
0:13:07 > 0:13:09Professional artists mainly,
0:13:09 > 0:13:11under the direction of community groups, schools,
0:13:11 > 0:13:14but also some school children have been involved
0:13:14 > 0:13:15in producing the new murals.
0:13:15 > 0:13:20Some people think they are quite aggressive, quite hostile.
0:13:20 > 0:13:22Is it right to celebrate some of those images
0:13:22 > 0:13:25when there are still clearly underlying tensions?
0:13:25 > 0:13:29Well, those more negative images are really a legacy of the Troubles.
0:13:29 > 0:13:31Here's a process of replacing those murals
0:13:31 > 0:13:33happening at the minute. It's part of our story.
0:13:33 > 0:13:36And tell us about the wall alongside us here.
0:13:36 > 0:13:37It's absolutely huge, isn't it?
0:13:37 > 0:13:40It is. You can see, it's almost twice the height of this bus.
0:13:40 > 0:13:43And this is only one small section of the wall.
0:13:43 > 0:13:46These were constructed in the late '60s as temporary barricades
0:13:46 > 0:13:48within communities.
0:13:48 > 0:13:51Some communities felt under threat at that time.
0:13:51 > 0:13:54So the walls started as temporary things
0:13:54 > 0:13:57and unfortunately it became very, very permanent.
0:13:57 > 0:14:00If you add up all the peace walls, in Belfast,
0:14:00 > 0:14:02there's over 15 miles of this in modern Belfast
0:14:02 > 0:14:04so we do have a job on to remove them.
0:14:04 > 0:14:07That is happening bit by bit, but it will take us time.
0:14:07 > 0:14:10Easy to build them up, not so quick to take them down again?
0:14:10 > 0:14:13That's unfortunately the case in Belfast, yeah.
0:14:13 > 0:14:15Thanks, Aiden.
0:14:15 > 0:14:17Now to The Choice, our series of films
0:14:17 > 0:14:20of people who've had to face life-changing decisions.
0:14:20 > 0:14:22Wendy Robbins meets a woman still living with
0:14:22 > 0:14:25the consequences of her actions many years later.
0:14:25 > 0:14:29My name is Jasvinder Sanghera.
0:14:29 > 0:14:32I was born in Britain and I went to school in Britain.
0:14:32 > 0:14:36When I was 15 years old I said no to an arranged marriage.
0:14:36 > 0:14:39I ran away from home and that decision affected my life
0:14:39 > 0:14:42and the lives of my three children forever.
0:14:42 > 0:14:46Jasvinder Sanghera grew up in a Sikh family in Derby.
0:14:46 > 0:14:51Arranged marriages were a common tradition in the community
0:14:51 > 0:14:54and when Jasvinder was 14 years old her parents told her
0:14:54 > 0:14:56they had found her a husband from India.
0:14:58 > 0:15:00Tell me about when you were first shown that photograph
0:15:00 > 0:15:01of your husband-to-be.
0:15:01 > 0:15:05I was just a normal kid who came home from school one day
0:15:05 > 0:15:08and my mother sat me down and she presented me
0:15:08 > 0:15:09with a photograph of the man.
0:15:09 > 0:15:12I said, "Mum, I don't want to marry this person."
0:15:12 > 0:15:16She just left it at that and put the photograph on the mantelpiece
0:15:16 > 0:15:19and every now and again she would point it out to me and say
0:15:19 > 0:15:20"This is your future husband."
0:15:20 > 0:15:23The pressure mounted when I was 15 and a half.
0:15:23 > 0:15:27My mother would be impressing upon me that "you will go through with this".
0:15:27 > 0:15:30That was when I started to say, "No, I will not."
0:15:30 > 0:15:32That was when my mother took me out of school
0:15:32 > 0:15:34and I was locked in a room at home.
0:15:35 > 0:15:38The thing for me was, I'd seen it happen to my sisters.
0:15:38 > 0:15:41They would say, "You're no different to us.
0:15:41 > 0:15:43"We went through with it, why are you any different?"
0:15:43 > 0:15:46- And how did you escape in the end? - One day I saw an opportunity.
0:15:46 > 0:15:48The front was open and I just ran.
0:15:51 > 0:15:56She escaped with the help of her best friend's brother
0:15:56 > 0:15:57and the two fled to Newcastle.
0:15:57 > 0:16:00Jasvinder crouched hiding on the floor of the car
0:16:00 > 0:16:02until she saw the Tyne Bridge.
0:16:02 > 0:16:07Overnight I'd lost everybody I'd ever known and loved. My family.
0:16:07 > 0:16:11I would come here and walk around aimlessly
0:16:11 > 0:16:13and look over that bridge often and think, "Well,
0:16:13 > 0:16:17"if I just throw myself in there, who's going to miss me?"
0:16:18 > 0:16:20After months in hiding,
0:16:20 > 0:16:25a police officer persuaded Jasvinder to contact her family.
0:16:25 > 0:16:27My mother's response was shocking.
0:16:27 > 0:16:33It was, "You stay where you are unless you want to come home
0:16:33 > 0:16:37"and marry who we say otherwise you are now dead in our eyes."
0:16:37 > 0:16:40Jasvinder spent the next seven years as an outcast,
0:16:40 > 0:16:44then the tragic story of her sister Robina
0:16:44 > 0:16:46spurred her to come out of hiding.
0:16:46 > 0:16:48Tell me about your sister, Robina.
0:16:48 > 0:16:51Robina suffered horrific domestic violence
0:16:51 > 0:16:55and we used to have a relationship in secret
0:16:55 > 0:16:58and she would tell me that she was suffering violence
0:16:58 > 0:17:01and I would say well go and tell Mum and Dad and she did,
0:17:01 > 0:17:02but they would send her back
0:17:02 > 0:17:05and say it's your duty to make this marriage work.
0:17:05 > 0:17:06You know, because of our honour.
0:17:06 > 0:17:10In the end my sister, 24 years old,
0:17:10 > 0:17:13she had a little boy who was five at the time,
0:17:13 > 0:17:17she set herself on fire, suffered over 90% burns and died.
0:17:18 > 0:17:19Jasvinder set up Karma Nirvana,
0:17:19 > 0:17:23a charity for victims of honour-based abuse
0:17:23 > 0:17:24and forced marriages.
0:17:24 > 0:17:27The majority of calls it deals with each week
0:17:27 > 0:17:30are from British-born schoolgirls and women.
0:17:30 > 0:17:33Give me an idea of the kind of calls you receive here.
0:17:33 > 0:17:34Well, just this morning we've had
0:17:34 > 0:17:37a teacher call about a 14 year old girl at risk.
0:17:37 > 0:17:40We rescued a victim of forced marriage
0:17:40 > 0:17:41who is now rebuilding her life.
0:17:41 > 0:17:44We receive over 400 calls a month.
0:17:44 > 0:17:48The biggest achievement for me has to be that we are saving lives.
0:17:48 > 0:17:52Although Jasvinder's sent her family photos over the years,
0:17:52 > 0:17:55they never forgave her for running away and in their eyes,
0:17:55 > 0:17:58bringing shame on the whole family.
0:17:58 > 0:18:01When my father died, I went to the house
0:18:01 > 0:18:06and in the corner of his room on the wall there was my photograph.
0:18:06 > 0:18:11And I thought, "You know, Dad, in death you say 1,000 things to me,
0:18:11 > 0:18:14"but you could never say them when you're alive."
0:18:14 > 0:18:16And I just think what a waste.
0:18:16 > 0:18:18All these years later,
0:18:18 > 0:18:22Jasvinder still has no relationship with the rest of her family.
0:18:22 > 0:18:25Her eldest daughter, Natasha, is getting married soon
0:18:25 > 0:18:28but there will be no-one at the wedding from Jasvinder's side.
0:18:28 > 0:18:33A sad consequence of a decision taken 30 years ago.
0:18:33 > 0:18:37Yet a decision that has given her daughter choices
0:18:37 > 0:18:39that most of us take for granted.
0:18:39 > 0:18:42That decision has given her a university education,
0:18:42 > 0:18:45independence, the right to choose who she wants to marry.
0:18:45 > 0:18:48And I'm just incredibly proud of my mum for making that decision,
0:18:48 > 0:18:53leaving at that age and running away and doing that
0:18:53 > 0:18:54and being the person that she is today.
0:18:58 > 0:19:02Hey, what a great place. Now this has got to be our final stop.
0:19:02 > 0:19:06No, no, no, Joe, we're still on the job, this is just a pit-stop, OK?
0:19:06 > 0:19:07This is the Crown Liquor Saloon
0:19:07 > 0:19:10also known as the Crown Bar to locals
0:19:10 > 0:19:11and it's been here since Victorian times.
0:19:11 > 0:19:14And it still looks like it's lit by gas lamps.
0:19:14 > 0:19:15Really atmospheric on a rainy day.
0:19:15 > 0:19:17It's brilliant and still got
0:19:17 > 0:19:19all the original tiles and carvings.
0:19:19 > 0:19:22Apparently Polish immigrants who built the cathedral
0:19:22 > 0:19:24moonlighted doing all the carvings, it's great.
0:19:24 > 0:19:28A wonder they had time, building a cathedral as well?
0:19:28 > 0:19:31I love how the windows are decorated to stop prying eyes seeing in,
0:19:31 > 0:19:34seeing you have a cheeky swifty. Now come on, what's your poison?
0:19:34 > 0:19:37Because we're in Belfast I think we should stick to the black stuff.
0:19:37 > 0:19:41OK, and speaking of poison, our next film is about a real-life crime
0:19:41 > 0:19:44that could have come from Sherlock Holmes' casebook.
0:19:44 > 0:19:47Ruth Goodwin has been delving into the dastardly deeds
0:19:47 > 0:19:49of an infamous Victorian poisoner.
0:19:52 > 0:19:56Victorian Britain had an unhealthy and macabre obsession with murder.
0:19:56 > 0:20:00In the mid-1800s the newspapers were full of lurid tales
0:20:00 > 0:20:02about women murdering their husbands.
0:20:02 > 0:20:07But ironically, the impetus for this murderous killing spree
0:20:07 > 0:20:09was a financial service.
0:20:09 > 0:20:13In the 1840s, life-insurance policies were becoming widespread
0:20:13 > 0:20:18and for the first time, death could mean a big pay out.
0:20:18 > 0:20:20They were designed to keep middle-class families secure
0:20:20 > 0:20:22if the wage earner died.
0:20:23 > 0:20:27Historian Dr Ian Birney has studied the effects the new policies had.
0:20:28 > 0:20:31Life insurance is considered to be one of the crowning achievements
0:20:31 > 0:20:33of Victorian civilisation.
0:20:33 > 0:20:36There is an aggressive expansion of the market.
0:20:36 > 0:20:38As far as life insurance is concerned,
0:20:38 > 0:20:41the typical payout would be thousands, even tens of thousands.
0:20:41 > 0:20:44The financial incentive for a husband's death
0:20:44 > 0:20:49proved all too tempting to women who became known as the Black Widows.
0:20:49 > 0:20:52And committing the perfect murder in Victorian Britain was not
0:20:52 > 0:20:57that difficult when a deadly poison like arsenic was easily available.
0:20:57 > 0:21:01It was in the curtains, it was in the candles that lit the home.
0:21:01 > 0:21:03It was in the toys that the children played with.
0:21:03 > 0:21:07There was an estimation that there were 100 million square miles
0:21:07 > 0:21:12of arsenical green wallpaper covering the nation's walls.
0:21:12 > 0:21:14So it was everywhere and very easy to buy.
0:21:14 > 0:21:17Also, its symptoms mimic some of the classic
0:21:17 > 0:21:21filth disease symptoms which were commonplace.
0:21:21 > 0:21:24Gastric conditions, vomiting, diarrhoea and the like.
0:21:24 > 0:21:28Victorian graveyards began to fill with the victims of the Black Widows.
0:21:28 > 0:21:33And arsenic earned a nickname, inheritance powder.
0:21:33 > 0:21:37One woman here in County Durham was the poster child
0:21:37 > 0:21:40for this lethal cocktail of money and murder.
0:21:42 > 0:21:45Her name was Mary Ann Cotton and for over 100 years
0:21:45 > 0:21:50she's been notorious as the ultimate Black Widow life-insurance killer.
0:21:50 > 0:21:53She claimed payouts on the deaths of husbands and children.
0:21:53 > 0:21:56This church in West Auckland
0:21:56 > 0:22:00was where her murderous trail finally came unstuck.
0:22:00 > 0:22:03In the early 1872, Mary Ann's stepson
0:22:03 > 0:22:06Charles was exhumed from this graveyard.
0:22:06 > 0:22:09Five days before his death, he had been turned away
0:22:09 > 0:22:12from the workhouse, seemingly fit and healthy.
0:22:12 > 0:22:17And in frustration, Mary Ann had said to the overseer,
0:22:17 > 0:22:19"He won't be troubling me long."
0:22:19 > 0:22:22He'll go the way of all the other Cottons.
0:22:22 > 0:22:25Charles was the 12th of Mary Ann's children to die,
0:22:25 > 0:22:28as well as three husbands, a lover and her mother.
0:22:28 > 0:22:31Before even making burial arrangements,
0:22:31 > 0:22:34Mary Ann's first port of call was the insurance office.
0:22:34 > 0:22:38Like at least 11 of Mary Ann's dead relatives,
0:22:38 > 0:22:40Charles' death was insured.
0:22:41 > 0:22:45Doctor Sarah Price is from Durham University and knows the story well.
0:22:45 > 0:22:46How did she get caught in the end?
0:22:46 > 0:22:49One of the doctors thought it was just gastric fever,
0:22:49 > 0:22:52but he actually saved some of the internal organs
0:22:52 > 0:22:54to do some tests and came to the conclusion
0:22:54 > 0:22:57that Charles had been poisoned by arsenic.
0:22:57 > 0:23:00This then prompted the exhumation of some other bodies
0:23:00 > 0:23:02and they also found evidence of arsenic poisoning.
0:23:02 > 0:23:06Mary Ann Cotton was put on trial, found guilty,
0:23:06 > 0:23:09and hanged at Durham jail in 1873.
0:23:09 > 0:23:10After her death,
0:23:10 > 0:23:14parishioners at this church raised money for a stained-glass window
0:23:14 > 0:23:16to recognise the doctor whose diligence
0:23:16 > 0:23:19ended Cotton's murderous career.
0:23:19 > 0:23:21So how did she get away with it for so long?
0:23:21 > 0:23:25Infant mortality rates were high, it also helped that she moved around
0:23:25 > 0:23:27so there was no history of suspicion.
0:23:27 > 0:23:31She also did a lot of nursing, who's going to suspect the nurse?
0:23:31 > 0:23:36Life insurance was designed to protect bereaved families.
0:23:36 > 0:23:40In many cases, however, and spectacularly in this one,
0:23:40 > 0:23:42they achieved the complete opposite.
0:23:42 > 0:23:45Instead of protecting families, they were destroyed.
0:23:49 > 0:23:52Gripping stuff. Now have you ever noticed,
0:23:52 > 0:23:54Ruth never seems to get the nice history films?
0:23:54 > 0:23:57She is always up to her neck in murk or muck of one kind or another.
0:23:57 > 0:24:01Well, she'll be well at home here at Belfast Botanic Gardens.
0:24:01 > 0:24:03A public park since 1895
0:24:03 > 0:24:06and a great place to come when it's...well...wet!
0:24:06 > 0:24:09As it is. Just behind us is the Palm House, which Richard Turner
0:24:09 > 0:24:12built before he built the Great Palm House at Kew Gardens.
0:24:12 > 0:24:15So, Belfast got there first!
0:24:15 > 0:24:18- And this is the tropical ravine building.- Good.
0:24:18 > 0:24:22- I need to find something here. - What are you looking for?- Bananas.
0:24:22 > 0:24:23Bananas... there, OK.
0:24:23 > 0:24:24- Right. See that?- Yeah.
0:24:24 > 0:24:27- Do you know what type of banana that is?- I have no idea.
0:24:27 > 0:24:29And neither do most people, as Jay Rayner found out,
0:24:29 > 0:24:31when he got his teeth into the story
0:24:31 > 0:24:33of the humble musa.
0:24:33 > 0:24:35- That's Latin for banana, you know? - I knew that.- OK.
0:24:37 > 0:24:40Braeburn, Granny Smith, Pink Lady,
0:24:40 > 0:24:43we all know our favourite variety of apple,
0:24:43 > 0:24:46but with bananas, it's somehow different.
0:24:46 > 0:24:49- Do you know the names of any varieties of bananas?- I don't, no.
0:24:49 > 0:24:51I couldn't name a variety.
0:24:51 > 0:24:53A banana's a banana.
0:24:53 > 0:24:55In fact, there are over 1,000 different varieties
0:24:55 > 0:24:58of banana around the world and in Britain,
0:24:58 > 0:25:00we really only eat one.
0:25:00 > 0:25:01It's called the Cavendish
0:25:01 > 0:25:05and the legend of how this became so popular and so famous
0:25:05 > 0:25:07is absolutely riveting.
0:25:07 > 0:25:10But peel back the story and you find within it,
0:25:10 > 0:25:13the seeds of its own demise
0:25:13 > 0:25:17and if something isn't done, top banana could become no banana.
0:25:20 > 0:25:22Surprisingly, the history of the banana in Britain
0:25:22 > 0:25:24kicks off at Chatsworth House,
0:25:24 > 0:25:28for centuries, home to the Dukes of Devonshire.
0:25:28 > 0:25:31The sixth Duke, William Cavendish, had a taste for the exotic.
0:25:31 > 0:25:35In 1829, he purchased a rare banana plant imported from Mauritius,
0:25:35 > 0:25:39which he described as, "a most beautiful and curious fruit."
0:25:39 > 0:25:44In his magnificent greenhouses, the head gardener, Joseph Paxton,
0:25:44 > 0:25:46set about nurturing the Duke's prize plant
0:25:46 > 0:25:50and within a few years, it was bearing fruit.
0:25:52 > 0:25:54Although bananas were known in this country,
0:25:54 > 0:25:57to actually have a plant fruiting was probably, if not a first,
0:25:57 > 0:25:59certainly very unusual.
0:25:59 > 0:26:01- Who got to eat them? - The Duke, and it's still
0:26:01 > 0:26:04the case today. It would have been a very choice, a very top end...
0:26:04 > 0:26:08When special guests coming, for those occasions bananas were used.
0:26:08 > 0:26:11The Duke and Paxton were immensely proud of their banana
0:26:11 > 0:26:16and in 1836, decided to exhibit it at the Royal Horticultural Society,
0:26:16 > 0:26:18where it caused a sensation.
0:26:18 > 0:26:21It was decided to name it in honour of the Duke,
0:26:21 > 0:26:25and from then on, this banana became known as the Cavendish.
0:26:25 > 0:26:28In 1837, a Christian missionary, Reverend John Williams,
0:26:28 > 0:26:31set sail for the Samoa Islands
0:26:31 > 0:26:33with one of the Duke's banana plants on board.
0:26:33 > 0:26:36From there, the plant spread across the Pacific.
0:26:36 > 0:26:38Tasty, easy to ripen and to transport,
0:26:38 > 0:26:43today the Cavendish is the most widely exported banana in the world.
0:26:45 > 0:26:49Its rise to the number one spot was helped when its main rival,
0:26:49 > 0:26:51the sweet-tasting Big Mike banana,
0:26:51 > 0:26:54was wiped out by Panama Disease in the 1950s.
0:26:54 > 0:26:58The disease is caused by a fungus, and a new strain is now
0:26:58 > 0:27:00threatening the Cavendish.
0:27:02 > 0:27:04What makes bananas like the Cavendish susceptible to disease
0:27:04 > 0:27:07is that they have no seeds.
0:27:07 > 0:27:10They're completely infertile, and so the only way
0:27:10 > 0:27:13to reproduce the plant, is to take cuttings from its roots.
0:27:13 > 0:27:16That's clearly a bit of a problem, isn't it,
0:27:16 > 0:27:18because they are genetic copies, they are clones.
0:27:18 > 0:27:21The problems are things like diseases.
0:27:21 > 0:27:22If the plant is susceptible to disease,
0:27:22 > 0:27:24it'll always be susceptible to that disease.
0:27:24 > 0:27:26But it's not over yet.
0:27:26 > 0:27:29An international team of scientists are hoping to use genetics
0:27:29 > 0:27:31to save the Cavendish.
0:27:31 > 0:27:32This is a leaf which has symptoms
0:27:32 > 0:27:36of the Panama Disease on it,
0:27:36 > 0:27:40which is devastating and killing bananas throughout South East Asia.
0:27:40 > 0:27:44Does it have any defence against Panama Disease like this?
0:27:44 > 0:27:48There's no resistance whatsoever in the Cavendish, and what's more,
0:27:48 > 0:27:52there's no chemical treatment which is possible to cure this disease.
0:27:52 > 0:27:55Scientists are turning to the other, less familiar,
0:27:55 > 0:27:58but were disease-resistant varieties of banana for help.
0:27:58 > 0:28:01Could the Pisang Mas from Malaysia save our beloved Cavendish?
0:28:01 > 0:28:05It's tiny. It really is tiny.
0:28:05 > 0:28:06Yes, it's very, very small.
0:28:06 > 0:28:09You see the comparison in size with normal Cavendish.
0:28:09 > 0:28:11Let me try it.
0:28:13 > 0:28:14Ooh!
0:28:14 > 0:28:16Clearly this is very ripe,
0:28:16 > 0:28:19but there's a bit of that acidity, citrus flavour,
0:28:19 > 0:28:23that you only tend to get in the Cavendish when they're pretty unripe
0:28:23 > 0:28:26and your challenge is to get all the good stuff
0:28:26 > 0:28:28out of this one, into the Cavendish.
0:28:28 > 0:28:32Yes, so we want to transfer the useful disease resistance
0:28:32 > 0:28:34into the Cavendish variety
0:28:34 > 0:28:37so we can continue to enjoy our favourite fruit.
0:28:39 > 0:28:42Over a century and a half ago, when the Duke and his guests
0:28:42 > 0:28:44first dined on the Cavendish banana,
0:28:44 > 0:28:47it was probably beyond the imagination that this rare,
0:28:47 > 0:28:49and most luxurious of fruits,
0:28:49 > 0:28:52would become so popular around the world.
0:28:52 > 0:28:56This apparently, is the polite way to eat one.
0:28:56 > 0:28:59And I'm sure that the Duke and Paxton
0:28:59 > 0:29:02would be urging on the researchers to do everything they could
0:29:02 > 0:29:04to save their treasured banana.
0:29:06 > 0:29:09Jay Rayner, there, fearlessly eating his way round Britain,
0:29:09 > 0:29:11in service of The One Show.
0:29:11 > 0:29:14Well, that's it from us here in Belfast. See you soon.
0:29:14 > 0:29:15BOTH: Bye!
0:29:15 > 0:29:17Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd