Subtitled “A Victorian Romance,” this four-part romantic drama series from the BBC starred Chloe Salaman as Fanny and took a look at the sleazy side of London in the 1870s and the world of prostitution centred on Leicester Square, Piccadilly and Soho.
Fanny – the illegitimate child of cabinet minister Clive Seymore (Anthony Bate) and a farmer’s daughter – was raised in a pub called ‘The Warrior’, run by her mother (Susan Brown) and stepfather ‘Duke’ Hopwood (Stephen Yardley).
In the basement of the pub (known as Hopwood’s Hades), fashionable gentlemen indulged their sexual fantasies after midnight.
By the time of her 17th birthday, Fanny was frustrated that her life was still confined to helping her mother at home, while her closest friend Lucy Beckett (Julia Chambers) was already determined to go on the stage and become rich and famous.
When a bet between Captain Charles Tennant (David Robb) and the villainous Lord Manderstoke (Michael Culver) – two clients of Hopwood’s Hades – led to the secret of the premises being made public, Fanny found her world rapidly crumbling around her.
She turned for help to her old friend Chunks (Godfrey James) and took refuge in his Islington pub, the Jolly Barges.
Securing a job as secretary and receptionist at Florizels – London’s most select “joy house” – Fanny eventually met the love of her life, Clive Seymore’s aristocratic legal assistant Harry Somerford (Peter Woodward).
But their idyllic existence was shattered when Harry was forced to accept a duel with Manderstoke.
The series was adapted from the classic 1940s novel by Michael Sadleir and dramatised by Anthony Steven.
Fanny Hooper
Chloe Salaman Harry Somerford
Peter Woodward Mrs Hopwood
Susan Brown Lord Manderstoke
Michael Culver Lady Alicia Seymore
Julia Goodman Clive Seymore
Anthony Bate Lucy Beckett
Julia Chambers Mr Box Chunks
Godfrey James Duc de Chambery
Brian Badcoe Captain Charles Tennant
David Robb ‘Duke’ Hopwood
Stephen Yardley Julian Carteret
Nigel Williams Mrs Somerford
Iris Russell Kate Somerford
Ann Payot Polly
Nichola McAuliffe Sgt. Crundell
Tim Barlow Doctor Lowenthal
Cyril Shaps Kitty Cairns
Rosemarie Dunham
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By the time of her 17th birthday, Fanny was frustrated that her life was still confined to helping her mother at home, while her closest friend Lucy Beckett (Julia Chambers) was already determined to go on the stage and become rich and famous.
