Cursed Histories review – so bonkers you’ll struggle not

Evil mummies, evil cities, evil scrolls … this programme has got them all. Just don’t expect much actual history

History buffs, be warned: Cursed Histories is heavy on the curses but light on the history, and if I didn’t know better, I would suspect that at least one of the historians offering their expertise here is struggling to keep a straight face.

The programme purportedly sets out to examine whether curses are real or not by looking at historical events that have been linked to supernatural harm. But it doesn’t try very hard to be neutral. It kicks off with a voiceover explaining that a stone age mummy “unleashes a spell of death for those who dare to get too close”, which makes it pretty clear which horse it has chosen to back: one called Sticking Two Fingers Up At Perfectly Rational Explanations For Loosely Connected Events. Odds are at least 25-to-one that you’ll get a sensible story here.