'women behaving badly'
Harlots’ Lesley Manville promises ‘delicious’ catfights between brothel madams in ‘saucy and naughty’ BBC drama
HARLOTS actress Lesley Manville has promised "delicious catfights" and "saucy and naughty" scenes as all three series of the period drama arrive on the BBC.
After previously being broadcast on Hulu and ITV Encore, the raunchy show revealed the racy - and sometimes brutal - 18th Century sex trade in full glory.
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It puts the spotlight onto a liberal Georgian age where up to one in five women was a prostitute and virginity could be sold for £100 — more than the average annual salary.
Lesley, who has played Lydia Quigley for the entirety of the show's history, exclusively told TV Mag of what new viewers can expect.
First up, she confessed: "Yes it’s saucy and naughty and it’s women behaving badly but it’s a family drama as well.
"There are real politics of being women in that period in that profession.
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"You get a real picture of what it’s like.
"At the centre of it there’s this rivalry between my character Lydia Quigley, and Margaret Wells who Samantha Morton plays.
"They’ve got this historical feud that will not go away.
"There’s a hierarchical battle between them as well. Lydia is the madame who runs really top of the range bawdy house.
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"She has royalty, gentry, politicians, barristers - she has them all coming through her doors. Pardon the pun!"
In the 18th Century, one in five women were prostitutes and many aspired to be courtiers.
With such competition there's bound to be catfights - and Lesley, 64, vowed their were some "delicious" spats to come.
She said: "I can’t remember which series - I think series two or three - when Lydia finally lands a big punch on Margaret’s face.
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"That was a pretty good moment. It’s delicious.
"There are delicious exchanges between them and looks.
"It’s these two formidable characters who just can’t bear
the other one to have the upper hand.
"There’s this great clash of minds and status - there's some really great stuff for Samantha and I to get our teeth into."
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