The Duchess of Duke Street

Louisa Trotter works her way up from being a skivvy to being the queen of cooks, cook to the King, and owner of the Bentinck Hotel. Her life and happenings among the guests and staff of the hotel make up the 31 episodes.

Genre: Drama

Cast:Gemma Jones , Victoria Plucknett , John Welsh , John Cater , Richard Vernon , Mary Healey , Christopher Cazenove , Sammie Winmill , Holly de Jong , June Brown , Lalla Ward , John Rapley , Bryan Coleman , Christine Pollon , James Woolley , Donald Burton , Michael Culver , Joanna David

1Season 1

S1.E1 ∙ A Present Sovereign

Sat, Sep 4, 1976

A feisty, determined, kind hearted young woman embarks on her career 'to be the best cook in England,' when she's employed in the London home of a well connected aristocrat.

2Season 1

S1.E2 ∙ Honour and Obey

Sat, Sep 11, 1976

Hardly flattered and severely compromised, Louisa has caught the eye of the Prince of Wales and is pressed into marrying Augustus Trotter.

3Season 1

S1.E3 ∙ A Nice Class of Premises

Sat, Sep 18, 1976

All bets are off when HRH becomes His Majesty, King Edward VII and Louisa and Augustus must plan what lies ahead for them.

4Season 1

S1.E4 ∙ The Bargain

Sat, Sep 25, 1976

Heavily in debt, Louisa is on a juggernaut that lands in her in the hospital, after she collapses from exhaustion. But, that handsome devil and consoling angel, Charlie Tyrrell, devises a plan to save her hotel.

5Season 1

S1.E5 ∙ A Bed of Roses

Sat, Oct 2, 1976

With Charlie Tyrell now in residence as the first guest, the hotel is now officially open to the public. Louisa has set a high standard for herself and is relying on word of mouth among the right kind of people to bring in the clientèle. Charlie invites an attractive, but married, woman for dinner in his rooms only to have her leave when she realizes she is the only guest. He invites Louisa to join him and unexpectedly, they soon are lovers. When Charlie must leave for America, Louisa is heartbroken but she also is pregnant. At the appropriate time, she leaves the hotel with Mary in charge to go and give birth. Soon Charlie is back and completely unaware of what has been going on, tracks her down. He also has a proposition on how to care for their child.

6Season 1

S1.E6 ∙ For Love or Money

Sat, Oct 9, 1976

A con artist, posing as a Baron, dupes a greedy American guest and seduces a lonely young bride, as a vigilant and intrigued Louisa monitors his every move.

7Season 1

S1.E7 ∙ A Lady of Virtue

Sat, Oct 16, 1976

A Liberal politician convinces a colleague that he can seduce a married lady of impeccable virtue.

8Season 1

S1.E8 ∙ Trouble and Strife

Sat, Oct 23, 1976

A woman from Starr's past, down on her luck, begs him to use his influence to obtain a job for her at the Bentinck.

9Season 1

S1.E9 ∙ The Outsiders

Sat, Oct 30, 1976

When a kindly, but modest man asks for a room at the Bentinck Hotel, he is given the short shrift. However when Louisa and Charlie find out the reason for his visit, he is treated like a visiting dignitary.

10Season 1

S1.E10 ∙ Lottie's Boy

Sat, Nov 6, 1976

A handsome young guest creates a rift between Mary and Louisa and persuades the Major to invest the remainder of his inheritance in a very risky venture.

11Season 1

S1.E11 ∙ No Letters, No Lawyers

Sat, Nov 13, 1976

A wily journalist poses as a temporary porter and gathers information on Louisa that could destroy her personal and professional life.

12Season 1

S1.E12 ∙ A Matter of Honour

Sat, Nov 20, 1976

Charlie is shocked to learn that one of his closest friends, Lord Elleston, arranged for his horse to lose at Ascot.

13Season 1

S1.E13 ∙ One Night's Grace

Sat, Nov 27, 1976

All are intrigued when an attractive young lady asks to see Lord Haslemere -- who is she, what does she want, and more to the point, what is she after?

14Season 1

S1.E14 ∙ Plain Sailing

Sat, Dec 4, 1976

Louisa turns the air blue, but hardly a sedate navy, when she buys a summer resort adjacent to a posh private club at Cowes.

15Season 1

S1.E15 ∙ A Test of Love

Sat, Dec 11, 1976

With the death of His Majesty, King Edward VII, an era ends for Britain and for Louisa Trotter. Pressing forward, however, Charlie Tyrell (Lord Haslemere) has proposed to lovely Margaret Rosslyn and the newlyweds leave the Bentinck to live in a suitable house and start a family.

1Season 2

S2.E1 ∙ Family Matters

Sat, Sep 3, 1977

Louisa's only brother, ne'er do well Arthur, returns to London after a decade. Her mother pressures Louisa into offering him a job at the Bentinck, running the risk of alienating the rest of her staff.

2Season 2

S2.E2 ∙ Poor Catullus

Sat, Sep 10, 1977

Two wiseacre students secretly hatch a plan to embarrass Eliza and an eccentric. Oxford don, but they turn the tables on the would-be pranksters.

3Season 2

S2.E3 ∙ A Lesson in Manners

Sat, Sep 17, 1977

Louisa takes a callow chauffeur in tow and tries to turn him into a 'proper gentleman,' when his kind, elderly and wealthy employer dies suddenly and leaves him the bulk of her estate.

4Season 2

S2.E4 ∙ Winter Lament

Sat, Sep 24, 1977

Louisa visits Lord and Lady Haslemere in Yorkshire and finds a bleak and desperately unhappy household.

5Season 2

S2.E5 ∙ The Passing Show

Sat, Oct 1, 1977

Louisa urges Charlie to get on with his life and a smooth and very suave actor beds Violet, who promptly gets the sack.

6Season 2

S2.E6 ∙ Your Country Needs You

Sat, Oct 8, 1977

With the outbreak of the Great War, the staff are galvanized to help in the effort and keep the hotel running as usual. Louisa takes in a Belgian refugee, a master pastry chef. Charlie enlists and leaves a worried Louisa as he departs for France .

7Season 2

S2.E7 ∙ The Patriots

Sat, Oct 15, 1977

Louisa is concerned when a government official informs her that the Bentinck has become a spies nest and implicates a member of her staff.

8Season 2

S2.E8 ∙ The Reluctant Warrior

Sat, Oct 22, 1977

When the hotel sustains damage after it's grazed by a bomb, Ethel takes a shine to a conscientious objector, assigned to ferret out a potential UXB. Though nobody was injured, Starr, sadly, loses his beloved pooch in the rubble.

9Season 2

S2.E9 ∙ Tea and a Wad

Sat, Oct 29, 1977

Louisa brings a bit of England to France when the Major enlists her to fashion a tea and sandwich shop, military style and Charlie (Lord Haslemere) and an ecstatic Luisa agree to marry once the 'guns are silent.'

10Season 2

S2.E10 ∙ Shadows

Sat, Nov 5, 1977

Charlie returns to London and the Bentinck when he's been wounded and puts on a cheerful and brave face, but his situation is far more serious, as Louisa and the Major suspected.

11Season 2

S2.E11 ∙ Where There's a Will

Sat, Nov 12, 1977

With the war at an end, Louisa is at the precipice of an emotional collapse and financial ruin.

12Season 2

S2.E12 ∙ The Legion of the Living

Sat, Nov 19, 1977

Ghosts of Visits to Yorkshire Past interfere with key decisions Louisa must make in the present, chiefly, deciding what will be best for her daughter, Lottie and her future.

13Season 2

S2.E13 ∙ Lottie

Sat, Dec 3, 1977

While a few of the staff know of Lottie's origins, others have set their tongues wagging about just why this young girls seems to be staying at the Bentinck. Louisa wont put up with it and sets out to end the gossip. Mary meanwhile takes an interest in her and invites her to tea with her friend Brian, the violin player. He immediately takes an interest in Lottie and grates at the constant stream of orders from Mary. When he decides to leave London, he gets Lottie to tell a heartbroken Mary of the reasons why. Louisa decides that the time has come to send Lottie to finishing school and make a lady of her.

14Season 2

S2.E14 ∙ Blossom Time

Sat, Dec 10, 1977

Lottie returns to the Bentinck from finishing school in Switzerland for a bit of a holiday and has her art teacher, Miss Olive Bradford, in tow. Lottie has become quite the young lady, having learned the rules of high society and losing her Yorkshire accent. The Major takes quite an interest in Miss Bradford but Louisa warns him that she is an old maid who may be out to get her hooks into him. Lottie also finds a beau, hotel guest Howard Blenkiron who takes an interest in her from their first meeting. She may have made a mistake however when she tells Howard of her parentage.

15Season 2

S2.E15 ∙ Poor Little Rich Girl

Sat, Dec 17, 1977

Louisa and Lottie are at loggerheads -- Louisa wants her daughter to be a proper lady, as befits the daughter of a Viscount. Lottie is confident that she has the talent and the looks to become a major musical star of the London stage.

16Season 2

S2.E16 ∙ Ain't We Got Fun

Sat, Dec 24, 1977

Change is in the air at the hotel and in the lives of its many residents. An American writer, Sophie Applegate, would like to pen a book about Louisa's life, successes and failures. Louise isn't all that keen on the venture but eventually rises to the occasion and opens up about her past. It's not obvious that she'll ever let the book see the light of day however. Merriman wins £500 in a contest and decides the time has come to engage in other pursuits, for a short time, at any rate. Mr. Starr and Mary have a surprise announcement that sends Louisa reeling and forces her to reconsider some of her rules about staff conduct. Major Smith-Barton returns for a short visit when his wife visits the continent. He too has a revelation for Louisa.