The line formerly known as ‘Goblin’ will be getting a rebrand this autumn to celebrate the history of the Suffragettes

The rebranded Suffragette Line launches later this year (credit TfL)

A new podcast explores the history behind the Suffragettes and their links to the London Overground line from Barking to Gospel Oak that will soon be named in their honour.

The latest episode of Transport for London’s Mind the Gap podcast features interviews with activist and scholar Helen Pankhurst, Emmeline Pankhurst’s great-granddaughter, and comedian and writer, Cally Beaton.

This autumn, the London Overground line connecting north-west London with Barking Riverside, via Haringey and Waltham Forest boroughs, will be named the ‘Suffragette Line’ and represented on the map with two parallel green lines, as part of the new names and colours for each of the six overground lines.

The aim of the rebranding is to make it easier for customers to navigate London’s transport network while also celebrating the city’s diverse culture and history.

In episode four of the Mind the Gap podcast, presenter Tim Dunn visits Barking Riverside Station, in East London, where he speaks with Helen Pankhurst. Helen is the great-granddaughter of Emmeline Pankhurst, who was one of key Suffragette leaders from East London who campaigned for women’s rights. During the interview Helen talks about the impact her great-grandmother and family had on her views on women’s rights and her own work, the history of the Suffragette movement and current women’s rights issues and challenges.

Helen also talks about the work of her grandmother Sylvia Pankhurst, who was also a key figure in the Suffragette movement and had strong links to the working classes in the East End of London.

In the second part of the episode, Tim speaks with British comedian and writer Cally Beaton at Gospel Oak London Overground Station. Cally talks about her journey of becoming the first female board member at ITV and a champion for women in business. Cally then speaks about how she became a comedian, the influence of comedy legend Joan Rivers, and how perceptions of women in comedy still have a way to go.

The Suffragette Line has been named following engagement with local communities and honours how the working-class movement in the East End paved the way for women’s rights. Barking, at the eastern end of the line, was home of the longest surviving Suffragette Annie Huggett, who died aged 103.

London’s deputy mayor for communities and social justice, Dr Debbie Weekes-Bernard, said: “This autumn, the London Overground line connecting north-west and east London will be named the Suffragette Line to commemorate this historic campaign, which helped gain women the right to vote. I encourage Londoners to tune into the latest episode of TfL’s Mind the Gap podcast featuring Emmeline Pankhurst’s great-granddaughter Helen Pankhurst to learn more about the history behind this pivotal movement and the inspiration behind the line’s historic name change.”

Helen Pankhurst, activist and scholar, said: “People travelling on the what will become the London Overground Suffragette Line will be connected to a local, national and global movement for gender equality and women’s rights, one that demanded that women should be counted as citizens and that their views should be represented in parliament. The line honours the past and I hope it will inform the present and the future. In terms of gender equality and political representation, we are not yet at the end of the line, there is still work to be done and the name of this TfL line will encourage discussion and remind us of how of far we have come.”

Cally Beaton, comedian, podcaster and writer, said: “Wouldn’t it be nice to think Emmeline Pankhurst would look at us now, over 100 years since some women got the vote, and think we’d got it sorted in terms of women’s rights and equality. We still have work to do, building on the foundations she and her fellow activists laid, and I reckon they’d love that there’s a Suffragette Line to celebrate all they achieved. Until the day I never again hear the sentence ‘women aren’t funny’, I’m all aboard.”

Check out the Mind the Gap podcast:
Visit podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/mind-the-gap-the-official-tfl-podcast

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