Secret Surrey

Explore fascinating stories from Surrey. To share ideas or stories with the team, email secretsurrey@bbc.co.uk. Series Producer: Simon Furber

Radio Surrey,91 episodes

Episodes

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Operation Tendril: The Hidden Web
Sometimes there’s nowhere to hide, even on the dark web.
4 mins
The Poor Murdered Woman
The Leatherhead mystery that simply won’t die.
6 mins
Wotton’s Hidden Eden
England’s first Italian garden hides grottoes, kangaroos and secrets carved in stone.
6 mins
Honey Wagons at Dawn
From wardrobe trucks to A-list luxury - Surrey’s got it all when Hollywood comes calling.
7 mins
The secrets of Great Tangley Manor
Armada timbers, a medieval moat, Royal signatures and ghostly whispers from the nursery.
7 mins
Britain’s First Robot: A Man of Metal and Mystery
He moved, he spoke, and then he vanished - the mystery of Eric the Robot.
10 mins
The secret inside Reigate Heath Windmill
It has sails, timber, and a hilltop view – but it hides something very unexpected.
5 mins
The man who tested parachutes
Before soldiers could jump, Charles Agate had to prove they could survive the drop.
6 mins
Lurking in the Surrey shadows
Hundreds of sightings, eerie growls, and a growing belief that big cats are roaming here.
6 mins
Deepdene’s subterranean Icehouse
The hidden Grade II listed brick-lined larder, buried deep into the hillside.
5 mins
Bombed for Hitler’s birthday
The church at Merstham that was destroyed to celebrate the Führer’s birthday.
5 mins
When bombs rained down on Surrey
The map that shows how close your house came to being bombed during WW2.
6 mins
Waiting beneath Limpsfield Common
The makeshift school classroom that held 50 children.
4 mins
Surrey’s emerald invaders
Parakeets are everywhere until you try to spot one.
6 mins
Ripley’s wonder drug
The pharmacy in Ripley that kept an extraordinary secret before being found out.
4 mins
When Shepperton tricked Hitler
Talented special FX artists helped divert German bombers away from British towns.
5 mins
Sealed until the Second Coming
The church at Albury that nobody can visit.
4 mins
The forgotten racecourse
From Grand National to International, the Surrey racecourse that became a runway.
8 mins
The eerie wall in the woods
Concrete, steel rods and wire - Hitler's Atlantic Wall lurking in Hankley Common.
5 mins
The astonishing life of Haslemere’s signal box
The Victorian levers and switches still keeping commuters on track.
5 mins
The flat-pack church
The prefabricated tin church that arrived in Surrey by horse and cart.
6 mins
Not for the squeamish
The Mytchett museum that documents the grim reality of wartime medicine.
28 Feb 2025,5 mins
The village that was moved
He didn’t want any neighbours, so he demolished their cottages and closed the main road.
6 mins
Inside Wanborough Manor
The Queen, a Prime Minister, parties for film stars and pay phones for prostitutes.
5 mins
Found in a Dunsfold skip
From airbase to film set, all of Dunsfold's history can be found in the skip.
7 mins
The daring Westhumble cave rescue
It was 1952 and a 15-year-old boy found himself trapped underground.
24 Jan 2025,5 mins
Dead to the world
The woman who chose to live her life in a tiny cell in Shere.
17 Jan 2025,6 mins
The most excruciating noise
The ear-splitting ordeal of tuning Guildford Cathedral organ
10 Jan 2025,7 mins
Trapped in Tatsfield
Surrey’s highest village is also its most isolated when the snow falls.
6 mins
Haslemere's musical gift
The family that inspired a musical revival from their instrument-making workshop.
06 Dec 2024,9 mins