The three of us found an enormous amount to talk about and really enjoyed looking at Victorian Pharmacy from the three different viewpoints.

The crew working on Victorian Pharmacy were without exception, a wonderful bunch of people. Making a television series is a team effort. There was a very great deal of effort put into this series by everyone, for which I can only say ‘Thank you’.

When I was first asked if I would be involved making a program about Victorian Pharmacy I jumped at the chance. It is such a fascinating subject involving so many of the nitty gritty practicalities of everyday life, and a chance to explore many of the nooks and crannies of Victorian life. Working with Nick and Tom, I was to get a chance to cast a light on the shadowy worlds of arsenic poisoning, medicated toilet paper and experimental chemistry. Everyone used pharmacists for something, it would prove to be a window into the lives of society ladies as well as desperate single mothers, from the young man with acne hoping to improve his courting chances to his father’s worries about his bald spot, from the terror of Cholera to the violence of the ‘cures’.

Highlights for me included spotting an early contraceptive device on the pharmacy shelves – the Universal Douche –and discovering the early female pharmacists who paved the way for other women to enter the medical professions.

Working with Nick and Tom was also a delight. We came to the project from three very different backgrounds. For me it was an interest in the physical and practical experience of living in the period, those things which whilst not strictly medicine none the less make a huge difference to living. Things surrounding personal hygiene, appearance, care of the home environment and family.

Nick is a modern qualified Pharmacist and Professor of the Practice of Pharmacy at the University of London.

Tom is studying for a PhD in the History of Medicine, focusing on zoology and psychology.