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House Of Eliott - Series 1
BBC/Roadshow Entertainment . R4 . COLOR . 600 mins . G . PAL

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Yes, they're here. The two flapper-sisters from the 1920s who conquer poverty and countless other adversities (including banal scripts) and conquer the fashion-world.

This is British costume-drama at its inadvertently funniest -- Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders did a brilliant job satirising it in their version, The House of Idiot. But really, no satire was needed. The two heroines, Bea and Evie, did it themselves just as well.

Beatrice (Stella Gonet) and Evangeline (Louise Lombard) are living in comfortable upper-middle class surrounds when their father suddenly drops off the branch. Oh no. He's left us no money. And now we find we have an illegitimate brother as well. What are we to do?

They're now suddenly poor and homeless, with neither shingle on their roof nor penny in the pocket. So what else really can two orphaned girls do but start sewing and build up a trendy little fashion business?

It's hats-off to the two lead actresses, Stella and Louise, who manage to shine through all the silly twaddle of this series. They deliver all their lines with the greatest conviction -- they know it's high-fashion rubbish, but they're damned well not going to let the viewer know that!

Louise as Evie has the easier role in this 12-episode first series, as she mostly has to just look pretty and relatively helpless. But Stella as Bea has to look the part of a dynamic empire-builder. And the tension as she develops a relationship with photographer Jack is just palpable. Every episode seems to end with the same lines of dialogue.

Jack: I'm here. It's our dinner-date. I've waited soo long for this.

Bea: Wonderful. At last. Jack. Darling Jack. But ... oh no. We've run out of pink thread. I must go to every great emporium in London to find the right shade or our next Fashion Show will be ruined!

Jack: (petulantly throws flowers to the ground). Well, that's that. I'm out of here. I'll find someone who can smear lipstick on me in inappropriate places. Even maybe have a gin. Or take some flying lessons and go far far away. (Turns and minces angrily out the door).

Bea: Oh Jack!

That's about it, except sometimes (there had to be a few changes rung in a 12-episode series) there'd instead be an altercation betweeen the two sisters, as young Evie finds that her fashion work interferes with social (helping the poor etc) duties. Jack would be scrubbed, and the last line would quickly be rewritten as:

Bea: Oh Evie!

It's no wonder that when French and Saunders did their diabolically brilliant take-off back in 1993, both Stella and Louise, along with the actress who played the daggy seamstress, joined in the fun.

The scripts of the real thing were quite pathetic, with unlikely circumstances crowding in on one another, with manufactured human dramas of a totally ridiculous kind, all done to that theme-music that just won't leave the brain -- the whole thing was total rubbish.

And yet, it was somehow delicious rubbish. As long as you didn't rot your brain with more than one episode a month, the silliness was quite compelling. This series deserves a special place in the 'so bad it's good' category of television drama -- although I'll leave it to you to determine just where that special place is.....

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The transfer quality --image and sound -- is reasonable for its television-drama vintage. The picture is quite clean, with a pleasingly faded quality. Sound, though basic, is clear.

The extras are somewhat on the basic side; text only. There are only cast filmographies, rudimentary production notes, a picture gallery and a very short '1920s Fashion Background' feature detailing how women in the 1920s suddenly developed flat chests and bobbed hair.

If you love The House of Eliott then you'll love The House of Eliott. But seek out Saunders and French first -- their version is shorter and infinitely better.


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  •   And I quote...
    "Yes, it's The House of Idiot (sorry, Eliott) on DVD at last. High-fashion costume drama at its costumiest."
    - Anthony Clarke
      Review Equipment
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          Pioneer DVD 655A
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          Loewe Profil Plus 3272 68cm
    • Receiver:
          Denon AVR-3801
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          Neat Acoustics PETITE
    • Centre Speaker:
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