- Ladette to Lady
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Ladette to Lady 
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 Broadcast Original channel ITV (ITV1/STV/UTV) Original run 2 June 2005 – Present Ladette to Lady is a reality based series that first aired in the United Kingdom on ITV in June 2005. The series was produced by UK-based RDF Media.
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.
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 for a new series (Series 5) that started at 10.35pm on 20 July 2010 that will bring another 6 episodes to ITV1. 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 Charlotte 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 situated in Teesdale, England. Eggleston Hall was specially re-opened for the show. In the first series, there were ten ladettes, while the second series featured eight ladettes.
Whilst in Eggleston Hall they are required to wear a special uniform: a tweed suit including a turquoise jacket, white blouse, and turquoise skirt, high-heeled 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, needlework, flower arranging, etiquette and cookery. However if they can't live up to the standards of ladylike behaviour, they will be expelled. A ladette is expelled every episode, so, by the end of the programme there will only be three ladettes left. Then the teachers must decide upon one winner, depending on who they think has improved the most and how the ladettes 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:
- Elizabeth Brewer - Etiquette and social protocol teacher
- Kate Forester - Elocution teacher
- Rosemary Shrager - Vice Principal and cookery teacher
- Vanessa Hooper - Dance teacher
- Lady Elizabeth Devenport- Deportment teacher
Former teachers
- Jean Broke-Smith - Principal for Series 1
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.
Series One contestants
- Hayley Brisland (Winner)
- Michelle King (Runner-up)
- Rachael Carter-Eagleton (Third)
- Clare Randall
- Jessica Upton
- April Duncan
- Sarah Jane Gregory
- Sarah Newman
- Jemma Gunning
- Sarita Bhardwaj
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.
Series Two contestants
- Victoria Jenkins (Winner)
- Clara Mayer (Runner-up)
- Frances Rowe (Third)
- Laura Hearsum
- Louise Porter
- Rebecca Squire
- Angela Mott
- Emma Phillips-Martin
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)
Final challenge
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 answers questions from Lords, Ladies, and select aristocrats. The overall winner of Ladette to Lady 2007 was Nicole Elouise Hart, who re-acquired her love of horses in the show and later participated in a horse-riding competition, courtesy of winning a task on the show. Also notable was the re-introduction of Series Two contestant Louise Porter. Nicole Hart also went out to Cairns Australia to Promo the Aussie Series and was used in the introduction shots.
Series Three contestants
- Nicole Elouise Hart (Winner)
- Holly Clements (Runner up)
- Louise Porter (Runner up & she was also in the second series)
- Simone Webber
- Neema Mattaker
- Kelly Simpson
- Amber Jaques
- Laura Waude
- Charlotte Donohue
Series Four (2009) (aka Aussie Ladette to Lady)
Series Four contestants
- Nicole Mitchell, (21) from New South Wales (WINNER)
- Skye Harper, (22) from Queensland (RUNNER UP)
- Kristyn Gohrt, (21) from Western Australia (RUNNER UP)
- Sarah Brunton, (29) from New South Wales
- Zoe Irons, (19) from South Australia
- Bianca Stevens, (23) from New South Wales
- Emily Biggs, (19) from Victoria
- Maria De Corrado, (23) from Victoria
Series Four 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, 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's filming, 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 opened on 20 July 2010 on ITV1 (17 August 2010 in STV region). Like Series Four, this series again features ladettes from Australia. The setting was moved from Eggleston Hall in the North East of England to "Hereford Hall" near Wales. Hereford Hall was country house hired specifically for the show and not a functioning school, although that is how it was presented in the show.[5]
Series Five contestants
- Donnelle Goemans, (23) from Western Australia (WINNER)
- Shari Linney, (20) from Perth (RUNNER UP)
- Jessica Shaw-Walford, (19) from Melbourne (RUNNER UP)
- Kaila Edwards, (18) from New South Wales
- Kelly Johnson, (21) from Victoria
- Kerryn Armstrong, (24) from Queensland
- Samantha McLeod, (23) from Queensland
- Letisha Hapimana, (21) from Brisbane
Air dates
- Series One - 2 June 2005 to 30 June 2005
- Series Two - 28 September 2006 to 26 October 2006
- Series Three - 22 January 2008 to 26 February 2008 (originally scheduled for 2007)
- Series Four - 2 June 2009 to 7 July 2009
- Series Five - 20 July 2010 to 24 August 2010 (17 August 2010 to 21 September 2010 in STV region)
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 they 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 Israel Channel 8, the Netherlands on RTL5, Canada on Cosmopolitan TV, Estonia on Kanal 11 and Kanal 2, Belgium on Vitaya and Norway on NRK1.
In July 2008, the Nine Network in Australia began to advertise for contestants from Australia to take part in an upcoming series of Ladette to Lady, titled Aussie Ladette to Lady. The series, which is 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 20 October 2009, with filming occurring at Hereford Hall this time.
References
- ^ barb.co.uk
- ^ http://www.unrealitytv.co.uk/reality-tv/ladette-to-lady-returns-itv/
- ^ Very Non-U: Two Etiquette experts quit Ladette to Lady - Telegraph
- ^ Why Laddette to Lady is very Non-U - Telegraph
- ^ http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/tvandradioblog/2010/jul/21/ladette-to-lady-reality-etiquette
See also
- The Girls of Hedsor Hall
- From G's to Gents
External links
Categories:- 2000s British television series
- 2005 in British television
- 2005 television series debuts
- British reality television series
- Fashion-themed reality television series
- ITV television programmes
- Sundance Channel shows
- Television series by RDF Media Group
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