Episode 3

Lucy Worsley concludes her series with the most dramatic transformation of romance yet. Out of the carnage of World War I came a racier species of romantic love. It could be found in the novel The Sheik, the Fifty Shades of Grey of its time, while in real life Marie Stopes urged husbands and wives to explore their sexual desire. New entertainments like dining out for two allowed couples to get to know one another without a chaperone, while going to the cinema provided a dark environment where hands could roam free. But as the hedonistic era of World War II encouraged these more permissive attitudes, divorce rates soared. Romance, though, would prevail, with a fightback led by the queen of romance herself, Barbara Cartland.