著作權基本信息
演員: Stella Gonet ... Beatrice Eliott (34 episodes, 1991-1994)
Louise Lombard ... Evangeline Eliott (34 episodes, 1991-1994)
aden Gillett ... Jack Maddox (26 episodes, 1991-1994)
Judy Flynn ... Madge Howell / ... (26 episodes, 1991-1994)
Cathy Murphy ... Tilly Watkins (25 episodes, 1991-1994)
Diana Rayworth ... Betty (16 episodes, 1991-1993)
Victoria Alcock ... Agnes (16 episodes, 1991-1993)
簡介
故事題材比較特別，是以1920年代倫敦的時裝設計所為背景，兩位女主角在發現父親負載累累，沒有給自己的女兒留下任何財產時，不得不自謀生路，在多次嘗試後，終於決定憑藉自己在服裝設計和製作上的愛好和才能，一起創業，開設了時裝設計所 House of Eliott。姐妹倆一開始做的是高級女裝(Haute Conture)，服務對象都是上流社會貴婦和高尚娛樂比如芭蕾舞服飾等，到第2季將近結束時，決定進軍中產階級女性服飾市場，做 ready-to-wear 服裝。
對這部劇集還不只是單季連續劇，而是拍了3季，據說當時播出時很受歡迎。相信1920年代的時尚是個吸引人的話題，而且當代的人們似乎都認為那是個經典考究的時代。我雖然對時尚歷史一無所知，但也覺得當時的人們，不論男女，穿著都很優雅有致。當然劇情還是以姐妹倆的個人生活和 House of Eliott 的艱苦經營為主，加入那個時代的話題如男女平等，女性爭取投票權等等。故事中的不可信任的銀行家、小報追逐名人艷聞等還挺有現實意義。
值得一提的是角色的選擇，飾演姐姐 Beatrice (Bea) 的 Stella Gonet 特別有古典味道，是我想像中的那個時代的中產獨立、一本正經、端莊又帶著點傲慢的女性形象。飾演妹妹 Evangeline (Evie) 的 Louise Lombard 的臉型，可能更適合那個時代，雖然她的角色活潑衝動有時不考慮後果。姐妹兩個的性格搭配，有點象 Sense and Sensibility。飾演男主角 Jack Maddox 的 Aden Gillett 和飾演 Lord Montford 的 Rupert Frazer 身上也很有時代感。
The House of Eliott 在 BBC 的劇集製作上還有里程碑的意義。過去 BBC 的電視劇大部份是由自己的製作單位拍攝，片場就是 BBC 在倫敦 White City 的 BBC Television Centre。在1993年拍攝完成 The House of Eliott 第3季之後，BBC 關閉了 Television Centre 的片場。以後的電視劇製作，漸漸向BBC出資，獨立製作公司拍攝的方式轉化。
在 The House of Eliott 之後，Stella Gonet 和 Louise Lombard 一直活躍在英國的電視界，Louise Lombard 後來去了美國演出 CSI 中的 Sofia Curtis 一角。因為這部電視劇的大受歡迎，以後還出現了一個 BBC 自己拍的惡搞版 The House of Idiot。
The House of Eliott is a British television series produced and broadcast by the BBC in three series between 1991 and 1994. The series starred Stella Gonet and Louise Lombard as two sisters in 1920s England who start a dressmaking business. It was created by Jean Marsh and Eileen Atkins, who had previously devised Upstairs, downstairs.
Plot
Series One
In series one Beatrice (30) and Evangeline (18, known as Evie) Eliott are left orphans by the sudden death of their tyrannical father, Henry Elliot. Left almost destitute and without any education, the sisters are forced to sell the family home to cover their father's debts. To earn money, they make use of their passion for dressmaking and Bea gets a job as secretary at a local photography studio run by Jack Maddox. Jack and his sister penelope become firm friends of the sisters and Jack provides them with the funds to open their own London based dressmaking business "The House of Eliott". Through their relationship with Penelope Maddox, the sisters meet the loyal and hardworking seamstress Tilly Watkins (played by Cathy Murphy) whom they employ. A consistent theme throughout the series is the struggle of women in the 1920's to live fulfilling and independent lives. Not only does Henry Elliot leave his daughters penniless and uneducated, but their cousin Arthur, who is executor of their father's estate, and Evie's legal guardian, keeps a rightful inheritance from the girls "for their own good". After Arthur's arrest and imprisonment for involvement in drug smuggling he emigrates to Boston, USA, releasing a large amount of cash owed to the sisters from their father's estate. This allows Beatrice and Evie to expand the business and by the end of series one, with the help of Evie's godfather, banker Sir Desmond Gillespie, the future looks good. Evie celebrates her twenty-first birthday and is made a partner in the firm. The House of Elliot releases its first independent fashion collection and is creating exclusive designs for the aristocracy.
Series Two
In series two Beatrice and Evie are invited to Paris by fashion designer Gilles Caragnac, who offers them a 5 year contract as designers for his label. While there Bea marries her former employer and friend, Jack Maddox and they move back to London, leaving Evie alone in Paris to work at the fashion house "Maison Gilles". After a year and an affair with Gilles Caragnac, a new glamorous and grown up Evie returns to work as the designer for the house of Eliott. Jack's career as a movie director is on the rise and at a showing of one of his films, Evie meets Lord Alexander Montford, a married member of Parliament, with whom she begins an affair. This causes complications throughout the series. Jack and Beatrice separate due to their inability to agree about whether to have children and the pressure of work. The House of Eliott faces ruin after the suspicious death of Sir Desmond Gillespie causes the firm's financial affairs to be taken over by Ralph Saroyan. The sisters suspect Saroyan of dishonesty and through their contact with Sir Alexander Montford, cause the bank to be officially investigated. It is discovered that Saroyan is defrauding most of the customers of the bank and the Elliot sisters are left with very little of their original savings and investments.
Jack has a huge success with his movie "The Strikers" and is offered work in the US by a Hollywood producer, but he turns it down and decides to work in Berlin instead. Meanwhile, as the market for couture gowns wanes in the depression of the late 1920s, Beatrice and Evangeline are offered a tour of America showing their new ready-to-wear designs for the department store Sears Roebuck. Bea still has feelings for Jack. Back at the fashion house, after a crisis of confidence Tilly marries Norman FOSS, a young chef in a local hotel, and has been reinstated as head of the workroom. She announces her pregnancy in the last episode of the series.
Series Three
The Eliott sisters and their employee Madge are wrapping up their evidently successful visit to the United States under the sponsorship of Sears, Roebuck, which has arranged to carry a line of ready-to-wear designed by the House of Eliott. Still estranged from Jack, Bea has picked up a new beau, debonair Sears executive Donald Bradley, who follows the ladies back to England. Bea decides that she still loves Jack and settles down with him just as he is shifting his attention from film direction to investigative journalism. Through a new employee, a talented but unreliable designer named Grace Keeble, Evie meets a couple of artists, Miles bannister and Daniel Page. Miles is hired to do illustrations for the House of Eliott and later becomes a much needed designer while Daniel is a talented artist who Evie believes only needs a break to be very successful. Both men fall for Evie but only Daniel wins out. Meanwhile, Madge discovers a new love and it is not her rather gruff husband Jerry.Tilly and her husband Norman struggle to keep their marriage together following the loss of their baby son, William (who was played by Emily Ryan). By the end of the season, the House of Eliott has nearly fallen apart, Bea and Jack have a daughter, Lucy (who was also played by Emily Ryan), Jack wins a seat in the House of Commons, and Evie has married Daniel. Miles' father has decided to become a partner in the House of Eliott after realising his son is a talented fashion designer. He wants the House of Eliott to leave the world of haute couture and move into the safer area of ready to wear fashions. The final episode of the series ends with a heated confrontation that raises serious questions about the future of the House of Eliott and the relationship between the sisters.
Loose Ends
The writers of the House of Elliot did not anticipate that the BBC was to pull the plug at the end of the third series. For this reason the third series ends without a firm conclusion to the Storyline.
Series One
Episode 1: 1920 - After their father's death, the sisters, Bea & Evie, find themselves penniless with their odious cousin Arthur Evie's legal guardian. Unhappy at the prospect of being controlled by Arthur and his mother, Lydia, they are determined to support themselves. Both look for work, and after a chance meeting with Penelope Maddox, Bea becomes a secretary for Penelope's brother, Jack Maddox, a society photographer. The sisters also begin to discover signs that their father had led a double life.
Episode 2: Bea begins to organise Jack's haphazard working life, while Evie continues to meet up with Penelope and try to find work that would be acceptable to her cousin Arthur. Bea & Evie's clothes attract attention. Evie also follows up letters that she finds and discovers something more about her father's secret life.
Episode 3: Evie takes a dressmaking job, and meets her father's lover who demands money for her illegitimate son, Sebastian. Bea and Evie decide to sell the house to pay off debts and move into the flat above Jack's studio. Bea joins Evie working at the dressmakers, but their talents and ambitions leads to problems. They are encouraged by Penelope to start their own dressmaking business with Tilly Watkins.
Episode 4: The sisters begin work with a Mayfair fashion house, but again run into conflict as they continue their own dressmaking at home with the help of Tilly. Sebastian's surprise appearance is not received well by Bea, and his visit to Arthur proves she may have reason to be supicious. The 25 Club, in which Arthur is a partner, gains a new partner.
Episode 5: Sebastian turns out not to be as the sisters thought. The sisters' dismissal from Mr Duroque's and Jack's encouragement leads Bea to take the plunge and establish the House of Eliott. Finding investment proves more difficult but some initial help is offered by Jack. Arthur gets more deeply involved in partners' illegal activities at The 25 Club. Much to her dismay, he also continues to show a romantic interest in Evie, his cousin and ward.
Episode 6: The sisters find a friend in Evie's godfather, Desmond Gillespie, a banker, though he is not prepared to invest in the House of Eliott. Arthur's treatment of Sebastian provokes him to tip off the police about The 25 Club. The police raid leads to the arrest and imprisonment of Arthur. The scandal causes problems for the House of Eliott as well as Aunt Lydia. Bea arranges for guardianship of Evie to transfer from Arthur to herself.
Episode 7: The House of Eliott is busily expanding with new staff being hired, including Madge Howell who takes on the job of head seamstress. A lucrative contract for both Jack and the House of Eliott with an actress on her way to Hollywood looks like it will cause more trouble than it's worth. Evie has trouble deciding between Hugo and Sebastian, and Bea finds being Evie's guardian more difficult than she expected.
Episode 8: A lucrative new client's husband turns out to be a figure from Bea's past, while Evie has an opportunity to go to Paris with Sebastian. Jack begins to feel jealous of Bea's closeness to her old lover. Hugo's car problems lead to a lucky escape for the sisters.
Episode 9: Evie throws herself into work in an attempt to get over the shock of Sebastian's tragic accident and avoid Hugo. The sisters different approaches to design begins to cause problems, especially as they begin to contemplate their first collection. Madge tries to cover for Tilly who is continuing to work despite worsening illness. Jack continues his efforts to work in the film industry.
Episode 10: Artisic differences cause the sisters to fall out and Evie to temporarily move in with Penny. Jack is given the opportunity to direct a film.
Episode 11: Bea and Jack's relationship develops but find it is increasingly difficult to spend time together as the first collection takes up all of Bea's time. Evie finds inspiration from the art world for their first collection. Penny displays an increasing frustration with the limitations of her charity work. Jack looks for financial investment in a new film.
Episode 12: Evie comes of age and becomes a partner in the business. The sisters decide to bring their show forward but then face accusations of copying from a rival designer who feels threatened by the new fashion house. Jack tries to find out more about his financial backer. Aunt Lydia decides to join Arthur in America and start a new life.
