The Duchess of Duke Street

The Duchess of Duke Street
Genre	Drama
Created by	John Hawkesworth
Starring	Gemma Jones Christopher Cazenove Victoria Plucknett John Cater John Welsh Richard Vernon
Theme music composer	Alexander Faris
Country of origin	United Kingdom
No. of series	2
No. of episodes	31
Production
Running time	50 minutes
Release
Original network	BBC1
Original release	4 September 1976 – 24 December 1977

The Duchess of Duke Street is a BBC television drama series set in London between 1900 and 1925. It was created by John Hawkesworth, previously the producer of the ITV period drama Upstairs, Downstairs. It starred Gemma Jones as Louisa Leyton/Trotter, the eponymous "Duchess" who works her way up from servant to renowned cook to proprietrix of the upper-class Bentinck Hotel in Duke Street, St. James's, in London.

The story is loosely based on the real-life career of Rosa Lewis (née Ovenden), the "Duchess of Jermyn Street", who ran the Cavendish Hotel in London. When the show first aired, there were many people who still remembered her, as she lived until 1952. According to census returns, she was born in Leyton, Essex, to a watchmaker. In the series, Louisa's family name is Leyton, and her father is a clock-maker.

The programme lasted for two series totalling 31 episodes, shown in 1976 and 1977. It was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Limited Series in 1980. The theme music was composed by Alexander Faris.

Beautiful but low-born Louisa Leyton (Gemma Jones) has one driving ambition: to become a great cook. She finds employment as a cook in the household of Lord Henry Norton (Bryan Coleman). His handsome, wealthy, aristocratic nephew, Charlie Tyrrell (Christopher Cazenove), attempts to seduce the attractive redhead, but she rebuffs him, refusing to be sidetracked from her ambition to become the best cook in London. Louisa manages to convince Lord Norton's sexist French chef, Monsieur Alex (George Pravda), into accepting her as his apprentice.

When Louisa is unexpectedly called upon to prepare a dinner by herself, she catches the eye of one of the guests, Edward, the Prince of Wales (Roger Hammond), who admires both her cooking and her appearance. After the dinner, Louisa is pressured into becoming Edward's mistress. Against her own wishes, she agrees to marry Lord Norton's head butler, Augustus 'Gus' Trotter {Donald Burton), to maintain the appearance of respectability and to protect the royal reputation. Gus and Louisa are given a house, and her involvement with the prince commences. In time, Edward's mother, Queen Victoria, dies leaving Edward to assume the throne as King Edward VII and causing him to end his relationship with Louisa.

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