Ladette to Lady

Ladette to Lady
Genre Reality
Starring Eggleston Hall teachers and ladettes
Country of origin United Kingdom
No. of series 5
No. of episodes 27 (as of end of series five)
Production
Producer(s) RDF Media
Location(s) Eggleston Hall (series 1 to 4)
Hereford Hall (series 5)
Release
Original network ITV, STV, UTV
Original release 2 June 2005 (2005-06-02) – 6 August 2010 (2010-08-06)
Chronology
Related shows Aussie Ladette to Lady

Ladette to Lady was a reality based series that first aired in the United Kingdom on ITV in June 2005. The series was produced by RDF Media.

Overview

The second series of Ladette to Lady was aired in the United Kingdom in October 2006 on ITV. The show had viewing figures of 4.45 million to 5.41 million, winning its timeslot each week.[1] A third series followed in 2008, although it was originally planned to air in 2007.

Ladette to Lady was cancelled by ITV on 11 April 2008, but returned in June 2009, featuring Australian, rather than British, ladettes. The series featured the original staff and school.

Ladette to Lady returned on ITV for Series 5 on 20 July 2010. The series saw the return of the familiar staff. However, instead of Eggleston Hall, where all the other series have been featured, this series is based in Hereford Hall.[2]

The series has been parodied on The Charlotte Church Show as Lady to Ladette, in which, conversely, prim and proper girls are taught by Church and some of her raucous friends to behave in a more ladette-like manner.

Premise

The series follows a group of ladettes, who are given an old-fashioned five-week course in learning how to behave like a traditional "lady". They are sent to Eggleston Hall, a finishing school for women in Teesdale, which was specially re-opened for the show. In the first series, there were ten ladettes, while the second series featured eight ladettes.

Whilst on the premises they are required to wear the school's uniform: a turquoise tweed suit, a white blouse, court shoes, and a pearl necklace. This uniform has varied. They are taught under the supervision and guidance of five instructors and are given various tasks in deportment, elocution, flower arranging, etiquette and cookery. Other skills include needlework, ballroom dancing, riding side-saddle, drawing, and so on. However, if they can't live up to the standards of ladylike behaviour, they will be expelled. One participant is expelled at the end of each episode, so by the end of the programme there will only be three left. Then the teachers must decide upon one winner, depending on who they think has improved the most and how they performed in the final challenge. However, all three finalists receive an Eggleston Hall diploma.

Teachers

The teachers at Eggleston Hall run a very strict routine and are extremely well experienced in their particular subjects. The teachers who taught the ladettes at Eggleston Hall were:

Former

Series One (2005)

Final challenge

In 2005 for the ladettes' final challenge they had to hold a fashion show. At the fashion show were their family, friends, eligible bachelors, the failed contestants and essentially all of the teachers from Eggleston Hall. The girls were marked on posture, grooming, elocution, floristry and cookery. The girl who was judged as the most improved would win a sports car with a value of £20,000, however, the fact that the winner would receive a car was unknown to the finalists. The eventual winner of Ladette to Lady 2005 and the sports car was Hayley Brisland.

Contestants

Series Two (2006)

Final challenge

The ladettes' final challenge in the 2006 series was to pass themselves off as real ladies at a debutante ball. The Debutantes' Ball was attended by a number of eligible bachelors, Lords, Ladies, select aristocrats and all of the teachers from Eggleston Hall. They were marked on their posture, grooming, elocution, confidence and their capability to hold a conversation. The overall winner of Ladette to Lady 2006 was Victoria Jenkins, who impressed the teachers with her charm and final transformation. A close runner-up was Clara Mayer who has since decided to become a chalet girl.

Contestants

End of Term Report

Several months after series two of Ladette to Lady, all of the ladettes from both series one and series two were invited back to Eggleston Hall, along with teachers Gill Harbord, Rosemary Shrager and Liz Brewer, in order to see how the ladettes had changed and how they had progressed in their lives.

During the End of Term Report we saw Clare Randall, who, during series one was a regular and heavy drinker. In the more recent gathering she revealed that she'd had a baby, that she has totally re-formed her life and quit drinking alcohol altogether. There was also Michelle King from series one, who as a result of the teachings of Eggleston Hall, has become more feminine and has been able to progress further in her life with more confidence. However, there were those who had not improved. To the surprise of the teachers, winner of series two, Victoria Jenkins, still had her old job and had not progressed with her studies.

Series Three (2008)

The ladettes' final challenge in the 2008 series was to be presented as debutantes to their parents, to make a speech and to dance the waltz. They were required to answer questions from select aristocrats.

The overall winner of Ladette to Lady 2007 was Nicole Elouise Hart, who re-acquired her love of horses. All the contestants were given lessons in riding side-saddle; she excelled at this and was offered the opportunity to compete, after the conclusion of the series. She later went to Cairns to promote the Australian series and was used in the introduction shots.

Also notable was the re-introduction of Series Two contestant Louise Porter, who in the interim had begun a career as a glamour model.

Contestants

Series Four (2009) (aka Aussie Ladette to Lady)

Episode guide

Contestants

Series Reunion

In the final episode the principal and vice principal travelled to Australia to catch up with five of the participants three months after the graduation. Zoe had started volunteering at an animal centre in Adelaide and had sorted out her alcohol problem, Sarah got a new job and is a lot more feminine and Nicole quit her old job and was about to start a horticultural course, but unfortunately Kristyn and Skye had not seemed to change.

Controversy

Series Four brought with it controversy in several members of the support cast quitting filming or being fired. Reports in the Daily Telegraph's Mandrake gossip column stated that Charles Lush, a self-styled baron, who appeared as the school governor, was asked by RDF Media, the production company, to quit filming after they found his name on list of British National Party members during filming for the series.[3]

William Hanson, etiquette expert, also quit filming after only one day, stating that the programme was 'detrimental to promoting good manners and etiquette' and that the so-called bachelors were just as bad as the girls with a few of them already married.[4]

Series Five (2010) (aka Aussie Ladette to Lady)

Series Five premiered on 20 July 2010 on ITV (except STV, where it premiered on 17 August 2010). Like Series Four, this series again features ladettes from Australia. The setting was moved from Eggleston Hall in North East England to "Hereford Hall" near Wales. Hereford Hall was a country house hired specifically for the show and not a functioning school, although that is how it was presented in the show.[5]

Contestants

Transmissions

Series Start date End date Episodes
One 2 June 2005 30 June 2005 5
Two 28 September 2006 26 October 2006 5
Three 22 January 2008 26 February 2008 5
Four 2 June 2009 7 July 2009 6
Five 2 July 2010 6 August 2010 6

International broadcast

The series has also been broadcast in the United States on the Sundance Channel, in Australia on both The LifeStyle Channel and the Nine Network (Series 2 and 3, after Series 3 finished showing on the Nine Network, it aired one episode of Bad Lads Army the following week before cancelling it and showing Season 1 of Ladette to Lady) as well as the ABC (Series 1), New Zealand on Prime, Sweden on Kanal 5, Poland on TVN Style, Denmark on TV2 Zulu, Israel on Channel 8, the Netherlands on RTL5, Canada on Cosmopolitan TV, Estonia on Kanal 11 and Kanal 2, Belgium on Vitaya and Norway on NRK1 and NRK3.

Spin offs

In July 2008, the Nine Network in Australia began to advertise for contestants to take part in an upcoming series, titled Aussie Ladette to Lady. The series, which was also filmed at Eggleston Hall, made its debut on Australian television on 16 February 2009.

The second season of Aussie Ladette to Lady premiered on 2 July 2010, with filming occurring at Hereford Hall.

On 27 June 2016 in Poland started "Projekt Lady", based on Ladette to Lady.

See also

References

  1. ↑ barb.co.uk
  2. ↑ http://www.unrealitytv.co.uk/reality-tv/ladette-to-lady-returns-itv/
  3. ↑ Very Non-U: Two Etiquette experts quit Ladette to Lady The Daily Telegraph
  4. ↑ Why Laddette to Lady is very Non-U The Daily Telegraph
  5. ↑ Ladette to Lady reality etiquette The Guardian
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