Media Review – Inside the Tower S1E3 (2018)

I’m not quite sure how I missed the Channel 5 series, Inside the Tower. It’s been around since 2018! Blame it on living in Canada, Covid-19, and the general impossibility of watching British TV from overseas. Normally I have to use TunnelBear to convince websites that my IP address is actually in the UK. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn’t.

But this time I was actually in the UK, and it was easy. I created a Channel 5 account and finally watched the episode someone had pointed me toward — Season 1, Episode 3, The Tower at War. And a good thing too, because Season 1 episodes were due to disappear on 31 December 2025.

Inside the Tower is a documentary-style show, and the first season aired in 2018 while the Tower was preparing for the centenary of the end of the First World War. Each episode is about 60 minutes long and weaves together different stories — some from today and some pulled from the past. It’s been hugely popular (they’re currently filming Season 9), and I can see why. The Tower of London has such an imposing history and presence, along with an air of mystery, that people naturally want to know more.

While I would have liked to view more episodes, I focused on Episode 3 of Season 1, The Tower at War. It was composed of four sections.

Section 1

We begin this episode by meeting Moira Campbell, the first female Beefeater. She gives us a quick glimpse behind the scenes and what it’s like to live at the Tower. Preparations are underway for the centenary of the end of the First World War, and we learn a bit about the 888,246 poppies that were placed in the moat in remembrance of those who gave their lives during that war. I remember visiting the Tower during the fall of 2014 when the poppies were first placed to mark the centenary of the start of the war. It was truly very touching.

Section 2

In the second section, we meet Scott Kelly, a brand new Yeoman Warder who is being fitted for his Beefeater uniform. We learn that more people were executed at the Tower during the 20th century than during any other century. Eleven spies were shot at the Tower during the First World War, starting with Carl Hans Lody, the first person to be executed there in 150 years.

We get a brief summary of Lody and of one of the other spies, Fernando Buschmann. The Royal Armouries curator, Bridget Clifford, shows us several documents associated with the spies. One secret document lays out the charges for Buschmann and actually has words cut out of the page — a simple way of ensuring secrecy.

Buschmann was a violinist and was able to play in the hours before his execution. His silver cigarette case is held by the Armouries, as well as a letter from his wife to a friend in England. It’s a touching reminder that spies were real people, with loved ones who cared for them deeply — something we can forget in the heat of nationalism and ideology.

Section 3

Scott is now getting his official uniform, a brand new Yeoman Warder. As for Moira Campbell, she has been deepening her knowledge of the Tower during the Second World War. The Tower did suffer some damage during the war. The entrance gates, for example, have some nicks and dings where shrapnel or aircraft rounds took a bite out of them.

On 5 October 1940, two bombs hit the north bastion of the Tower, killing one Yeoman Warder and damaging the bastion and adjoining wall. The bombing interrupted the Ceremony of the Keys, which has taken place every night since the 14th century.

Once the war began, the Tower again hosted prisoners. Rudolf Hess was held at the Tower for four days in 1941, and the Yeoman Warders’ onsite pub (The Keys) has his autograph on display.

The only person executed at the Tower during the Second World War, and the last person to be executed there, was Josef Jakobs. The show gives a quick summary of Josef’s arrival in England, giving the location as 52.4504N; 0.1085W. While this leads one to the centre of the village of Ramsey — and is a great advertisement for Harlequin Balloons, a party shop — it isn’t actually where Josef landed. Bridget Clifford was able to acquire the prescription written for Josef in the early hours of August 15. A representative from the Royal Pharmaceutical Society takes a look at the prescription and identifies the two medications: one for an upset stomach and one a heavy-duty sedative to calm the nerves.

Finally, Bridget shows us the chair in which Josef sat on the morning of his execution. The broken back of the chair is a testament to the force of the bullets from the Scots Guards firing squad.

We then go back to Scott Kelly, who is getting fitted for his Tudor bonnet.

Section 4

In the final section, we see Scott, fully kitted out with his Beefeater uniform and Tudor bonnet. As he wanders the grounds of the Tower, his role is to offer general assistance to visitors. We learn that the last prisoners at the Tower were two gangsters, the Kray twins. In 1952, they were conscripted and told to report for duty at the Tower. After arriving, they decided they didn’t want any part of the army and left — one of them punching a corporal on the way out. They were arrested for being AWOL and brought back to the Tower, where they were held in the Wellington Barracks for seven days.

Summary

On the whole, the show was solid and informative. I liked how they pulled in present-day Warder life alongside the wartime stories — it gave the episode more texture. My only real peeve, other than the weird latitude and longitude for Josef’s landing, was in the credits, where they spelled my name wrong. Strange that they got “Josef Jakobs” right but managed to butcher “Giselle Jackobs.”