The series which explores the 20th century through the words of real people. Muriel Howard's account of her Somerset childhood and the secret that defined it adapted by Tina Pepler with Sara Davies.

It's 1911 and Muriel at 5-years-old begins to question her mother's night-time absences

Violinists ..... Sam and Andrew McGregor

Produced and directed by Gemma Jenkins

Muriel Howard, full name Brenda Muriel Howard-Tripp, grew up in the Somerset village of Sampford Brett with her brother and widowed mother after her father, the rector, died of consumption. Behind the story of a fatherless and impecunious but affectionate rural upbringing hovers a secret that threatens to emerge and tear apart her close-knit family.

Adapted from her unpublished memoir, The Secret, explores the emotions of a child caught in an adult drama she doesn't understand.

The action plays out against the backdrop of village life, school and friendships in early 20th Century rural England, spanning the years 1911-1923.

Brenda Muriel Howard-Tripp went on to become a trail-blazing career woman, Director of East Europe at the British Council and cultural attaché in the Soviet Union after the Second World War. Show less