AWARD-WINNING poet Simon Armitage is to present a new documentary on one of the key figures in the story of the Pendle Witches.
The Pendle Witch Child, to be broadcast on BBC4, tells the story of nine-year-old Jennet Device, the prosecution’s key witness in the infamous trials.
She gave evidence against her own mother, brother, sister and neighbours at the trial in Lancaster.
Thanks to her chilling testimony, they were found guilty of witchcraft and hanged.
According to its producers, the programme will tell “a story of fear, magic and demonic pacts, retold partly with vivid and innovative hand-drawn animation”.
Mr Armitage will discover how Jennet’s appearance in the witness box cast its shadow beyond Lancashire, impressing lawyers, politicians, clerics and even the King himself and setting a dark precedent for child testimony in witch trials as far away as America.
The hour-long programme will be screened at 9pm tonight.
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