Tudor, I Hardly Know Her Emily Simpson and Garrett Kaser

I absolutely love this podcast. It is very laid back but - as someone who has just spent the last two years revising 24 hours a day - that appeals greatly to me! I have wanted to learn more about my country's history for a while, as I realised I knew more about the history of Afghanistan than England, but I always thought it would be really boring - it isn't! Tudor I Hardly Know Her has ignited in me a love for the Tudor and Plantageanet period and I now read many books and articles about the period in my free time.

The podcast covers a huge range of topics from all the main tudor historical figures to everyday history like entertainment, food and drink and even conspiracy theories.

People have critisised the sound quality in previous reviews but it is definitely listenable and it's completely unreasonable to expect a brand new podcast to open with all the sound recording equipment needed - it's expensive and podcasts don't make you millionaires! Equally, although there are times when Emily admits to not knowing something that is not something to criticise - it is vastly preferable to being told false information (which 100% happens at school!) and we always get the answer. These moments are the produce of a podcast structure where Emily is "teaching" Garret, and so naturally there will be questions that come up that prompt further research - that's what makes it worth asking a question! It is also this structure that makes the podcast effective as you are taught at the same rate as Garret so the chances are the things he asks will be relevant to your own understanding of the period.

I also love the many book and film recomendations! And the many ongoing jokes...

To summarise, this podcast is very informative (I keep on finding things in everyday life that I can link back to the Tudors now - much to my family's annoyance!) and wide-ranging but it is also entertainment. It is enjoyable and easy to listen to and while this may spoil the "educational" side for some people, it is very refreshing for people who spend their whole day in education, and it makes it much easier to follow the topic than other podcasts that take a more "lecture" style approach.

If you want an easy and fun way to learn about the Tudors, and a few laughs along the way, then I can't reccomend this podcast enough. If you want a lecture on the Tudors from a professor who knows everything flawlessy but has no personality, maybe don't search for that on Itunes XD

I think the review by Mattyp48 was rather harsh. The main presenter isn’t an expert, which she admits, but she is enthusiastic and does have some knowledge. The other two hosts don’t actually add much to the show and if she tightened up her knowledge base she could probably host alone.
The show is listenable though and you will learn one or two things every show.

So I wanted to like this podcast.

I love history podcasts and love finding out about different eras/times and genuinely think that the history section is one of the best on the marketplace. However, this is just a poor excuse of a podcast. I've lasted two episodes and can't manage anymore.

The premise is three people (two hosts and a producer) talk about life in Tudor England in an informative and entertaining way.

Unfortunately it is neither of these things and what you actually get is an "expert" who spends most of her time being wrong or saying she doesn't know/can't remember what the answer is so will have to look it up.

And the production is so sub par, the sound quality is awful and there must be a reason why a "producer" who does such a poor job is allowed to continue...oh wait, there is, they are sleeping with one of the hosts. The job he does in producing is so poor that he can't be there on merit and is only doing the job cause of the fact he is husband to one of the hosts.

The other host can't even get the name of the podcast correct, he's actually that bad at hosting.

Nothing about this is good.