The Duchess of Duke Street was created by John Hawksworth. The series stars Gemma Jones, Christopher Cazenove, Richard Vernon, John Welsh, John Cater, Victoria Plunckett, Mary Healey and Joanna David.The series is set in London during the Edwardian era. We follow the life of Louisa Trotter(Gemma Jones), a young cockney woman who wants to be a cook more than anything else. Working very hard she learns the art of making food. Her food is superb and well liked by all who taste it. As the years go on Louisa becomes one of the best cooks in London and becomes the owner of the Bentinck Hotel. The Bentinck is more like an apartment building than a hotel, those who stay there love it and call it their home away from home. Louisa has a relationship with the Prince of Wales(later to become King Edward VII), throughout the series Louisa looks back on her relationship with him very fondly.The real love of Lousia's life is the handsome and outgoing aristocrat Charlie Tyrrell(Christopher Cazenove). Their relationship is complicated, they become the best of friends and later briefly become lovers.They both want their relationship to become something more but they never seem to find the right moment to change the nature of the relationship. They have a daughter called Lottie(Lalla Ward)who is raised by tenants of Charlie's on his country estate. Charlie helps Louisa run the Bentinck and keeps a suite there. Later the First World War comes and Charlie leaves to fight.Louisa's loyal staff at the hotel include doorman Starr(John Cater),a former soldier who speaks his mind and who's best friend is his dog Fred. Merriman(John Welsh)the elderly head waiter who wouldn't thank you for suggesting he retire. Bubbly Welsh maid Mary(Victoria Plunckett). The cook Mrs. Cochrane (Mary Healey)and former soldier turned gambler Major Smith-Barton(Richard Vernon). Louisa and her staff become like family and they share the good and bad times together.Besides the relationship between Charlie and Louisa, my favourite relationship is the one between Louisa and the Major. He becomes a father figure to her and a friend.The entire cast are superb but it's Gemma Jones's performance that sticks in the memory the most.Gemma makes Louisa strong and fearless, funny and very admirable. Louisa never forgets where she came from and doesn't become haughty once she becomes a success. I also love she portrays Louisa's unwillingness to show any sort of vulnerability, even when she's alone with Charlie she very seldom lets her guard down, she always has to appear strong and tough possibly because she is afraid that to appear vulnerable would make her appear weak. One of Gemma Jone's best performances.Guest stars include Robert Hardy, Martin Shaw(as Louisa's brother, a real bad lad),Liz Smith, Anthony Andrews, Michael Culver,Joanna David(as Charlie's fragile wife) and Freddie Jones.Moving, funny and endlessly entertaining, this series is one you'll enjoy if you like Upstairs,Downstairs and The House of Eliott. What are you waiting for? Come and check into the Bentinck Hotel.

The first recommendation I get is undoubtedly Pride and Prejudice(Collin Firth version),when talking about British TV series, the second probably would be Brideshead Revisited or Fawlty Towers, yet no one recommends The Duchess of Duke Street to me before. It is by sheer luck that I come across this series-and what enjoyment it gives me! how many times it sets me think like I have never thought before! and what a treasure it is! The first two or three episodes are quite plain, and indeed, dull, I would say; as the story unfolds itself, however, I become quite captivated-I never knew before any female characters from any TV series can be such as Louisa Trotter: she's pretty(quite common among all TV series), but damn headstrong as a bull, and she says 'bloody' as often as a man does, never cares very much about deportment and carriage herself;what strikes me as rarer and harder to find among women is her force-she has passion for cooking, and on no occasion allows any one or anything whatsoever to hinder her from realizing her dream of being the best cook in England. Such a woman is uncommon even in today's world. For how many times have we been dragged away from the path to our true dream by this or that seemingly reasonable excuse! How many people have been regretting in their winter season of life-oh, if only I did! In short, this is quite a thought-provoking series, can be even better than Pride and Prejudice and Brideshead Revisited in a way. A pity to be sure, that The Duchess of Duke Street is not well-known now, well, in America at least.However I am a bit disappointed that in the later parts of the series, too much is focused on Louisa's relationships-I don't like such a good topic to evolve into a kind of romantic soap opera, there's already too many of them stuffed in the American TV markets-the focus of which really disappoints me, since I do consider the middle of the series very promising. Well, that's the only flaw I find with this series, and that's why I give a 9 star instead of a perfect 10.

Yup, it was the seventies that was the golden age of the miniseries, and it was the British who ruled, with PBS acting as as kind of Prince Regent, offering up such televisual feasts as Upstairs Downstairs, Poldark, and the Duchess of Duke Street.To people over a certain age, Gemma Jones will be forever remembered as Louisa Trotter, the plucky lower middle class girl, practically sold into service by her selfish mother, who works her way up in the world to become the proprietress of the best gentle-person's hotel in London, the lover of the Prince of Wales, and a legend in her own time.The Duchess of Duke Street is an artifact of a crossroads of two very special times - the 1960's, when there was a serious interest in the not-too-distant past (the Belle Epoque, the Edwardian Period, the Roaring Twenties, etc.), and the 1980's when the interest in the past had more to do with escapism and romanticism and produced some of the most beautiful visuals in film history. Because of this, The Dutchess is a treat, full of historical detail, with wonderful fictionalizations of Edwardian fact (Prince Edwards practice of taking mistresses for example).The series paved the way for some of the great miniseries to come - including Brideshead Revisited, the 1980's production of Love in a Cold Climate, Flickers, and To Serve Them All My Days - and ensured that a certain segment of television viewers had grand images of Edwardian London and Art Nouveau imprinted in its memory.

Gemma Jones is simply brilliant and unforgettable in this series. It's wonderful to stay with these characters through so many episodes, and the quality never flags. If you haven't seen it, you're in for a treat. In anyone else's hand these stories might seem like melodrama- Gemma et al make every scene utterly convincing. Just a delightful run from start to finish. In the future, fluff like "Bridget Jones" will seem hopelessly dated (Renee What? Hugh Who?) and will be almost entirely forgotten-except by fans who will rent it just to see another great role from Gemma. But "The Duchess of Duke Street" is going to live forever, and will be treasured for many generations to come.Hurrah for The Duchess! Perhaps you Brits will get around to giving the real Ms. Jones her due someday- but in any case she will always be one hell of a Dame to those of us who know and love her work.And yes, since you mention it, this series *is* better than Upstairs, Downstairs. Got it beat by a mile. :)