A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Blistering performances.

Just binge watched both series of this after not watching it since originally screened and it held up well and I really enjoyed it, but I must comment on Gemma jones acting everything she does from shouting her lines the way she bustles about and her facial expressions just shout out look at me I'm a cockney made good realistic acting it is not and there is absolutely no character development from the 1st to last episode,indeed you could watch the episodes in any order and still enjoy it

The Duchess of Duke Street was created by John Hawksworth. The series stars Gemma Jones, Christopher Cazenove, Richard Vernon, John Welsh, John Cater, Victoria Plunckett, Mary Healey and Joanna David.The series is set in London during the Edwardian era. We follow the life of Louisa Trotter(Gemma Jones), a young cockney woman who wants to be a cook more than anything else. Working very hard she learns the art of making food. Her food is superb and well liked by all who taste it. As the years go on Louisa becomes one of the best cooks in London and becomes the owner of the Bentinck Hotel. The Bentinck is more like an apartment building than a hotel, those who stay there love it and call it their home away from home. Louisa has a relationship with the Prince of Wales(later to become King Edward VII), throughout the series Louisa looks back on her relationship with him very fondly.The real love of Lousia's life is the handsome and outgoing aristocrat Charlie Tyrrell(Christopher Cazenove). Their relationship is complicated, they become the best of friends and later briefly become lovers.They both want their relationship to become something more but they never seem to find the right moment to change the nature of the relationship. They have a daughter called Lottie(Lalla Ward)who is raised by tenants of Charlie's on his country estate. Charlie helps Louisa run the Bentinck and keeps a suite there. Later the First World War comes and Charlie leaves to fight.Louisa's loyal staff at the hotel include doorman Starr(John Cater),a former soldier who speaks his mind and who's best friend is his dog Fred. Merriman(John Welsh)the elderly head waiter who wouldn't thank you for suggesting he retire. Bubbly Welsh maid Mary(Victoria Plunckett). The cook Mrs. Cochrane (Mary Healey)and former soldier turned gambler Major Smith-Barton(Richard Vernon). Louisa and her staff become like family and they share the good and bad times together.Besides the relationship between Charlie and Louisa, my favourite relationship is the one between Louisa and the Major. He becomes a father figure to her and a friend.The entire cast are superb but it's Gemma Jones's performance that sticks in the memory the most.Gemma makes Louisa strong and fearless, funny and very admirable. Louisa never forgets where she came from and doesn't become haughty once she becomes a success. I also love she portrays Louisa's unwillingness to show any sort of vulnerability, even when she's alone with Charlie she very seldom lets her guard down, she always has to appear strong and tough possibly because she is afraid that to appear vulnerable would make her appear weak. One of Gemma Jone's best performances.Guest stars include Robert Hardy, Martin Shaw(as Louisa's brother, a real bad lad),Liz Smith, Anthony Andrews, Michael Culver,Joanna David(as Charlie's fragile wife) and Freddie Jones.Moving, funny and endlessly entertaining, this series is one you'll enjoy if you like Upstairs,Downstairs and The House of Eliott. What are you waiting for? Come and check into the Bentinck Hotel.

Yup, it was the seventies that was the golden age of the miniseries, and it was the British who ruled, with PBS acting as as kind of Prince Regent, offering up such televisual feasts as Upstairs Downstairs, Poldark, and the Duchess of Duke Street.To people over a certain age, Gemma Jones will be forever remembered as Louisa Trotter, the plucky lower middle class girl, practically sold into service by her selfish mother, who works her way up in the world to become the proprietress of the best gentle-person's hotel in London, the lover of the Prince of Wales, and a legend in her own time.The Duchess of Duke Street is an artifact of a crossroads of two very special times - the 1960's, when there was a serious interest in the not-too-distant past (the Belle Epoque, the Edwardian Period, the Roaring Twenties, etc.), and the 1980's when the interest in the past had more to do with escapism and romanticism and produced some of the most beautiful visuals in film history. Because of this, The Dutchess is a treat, full of historical detail, with wonderful fictionalizations of Edwardian fact (Prince Edwards practice of taking mistresses for example).The series paved the way for some of the great miniseries to come - including Brideshead Revisited, the 1980's production of Love in a Cold Climate, Flickers, and To Serve Them All My Days - and ensured that a certain segment of television viewers had grand images of Edwardian London and Art Nouveau imprinted in its memory.

Gemma Jones is simply brilliant and unforgettable in this series. It's wonderful to stay with these characters through so many episodes, and the quality never flags. If you haven't seen it, you're in for a treat. In anyone else's hand these stories might seem like melodrama- Gemma et al make every scene utterly convincing. Just a delightful run from start to finish. In the future, fluff like "Bridget Jones" will seem hopelessly dated (Renee What? Hugh Who?) and will be almost entirely forgotten-except by fans who will rent it just to see another great role from Gemma. But "The Duchess of Duke Street" is going to live forever, and will be treasured for many generations to come.Hurrah for The Duchess! Perhaps you Brits will get around to giving the real Ms. Jones her due someday- but in any case she will always be one hell of a Dame to those of us who know and love her work.And yes, since you mention it, this series *is* better than Upstairs, Downstairs. Got it beat by a mile. :)