Duchess Duke Street: Complete Collection

Excellent period drama and Gemma Jones shines as the "Duchess".
The Duchess of Duke Street was a BBC period drama set in London circa 1900-1925. The lead character, Louisa Trotter, was played by Gemma Jones, an actress who made the role her own, and mesmerised audiences in the role of a maid who works her way up to becoming a famous cook and eventually the proprietress of the Bentinck Hotel in London. This story is loosely based on the real-life Rosa Lewis who managed the Cavendish Hotel in London.

In the first season, we are introduced to the cast of characters, with Gemma Jones in the lead role of Louisa Trotter. She plays a fiercely determined, independent, strong-willed woman who is bent on making a success of herself. She wants to be the most famous cook in London, and gets employed in the household of Lord Henry Norton, to the detriment of his French chef. But Louisa's determination sees Monsieur Alex relenting and eventually developing a grudging admiration for her cooking skills. Louisa's attractiveness garners her the...

From Scullery Maid to the Elite's Confidant
The Duchess of Duke Street is based on the real life of Rosa Lewis, Gemma Jones portrays Louisa Leyton Trotter. Cockney Louisa Leyton wants to better her position from scullery maid and decides to do that by becoming a top cook and feeding the rich and famous.

Series One (15 Episodes) - Sees Louisa take a position as a scullery maid in an upper class house. She quickly finds out that there is only one way improve her life and that is to learn how to be a great cook. Along the way she becomes London's premier hostess and owner of Bentinck's. But even with all this sucess, she cannot have the man she loves.

Series Two (16 Episodes) - Louisa continues her success through the great war and into the the Roaring Twenties. But Louisa's kind heart (during the war she opens Bentinck's to soldiers but never cashes their checks) brings her to the brink of financial ruin.

Gemma Jones gives a fantastic performance and the series is worth watching just for this...

A materpiece
We first rented this entire series through Netflix and when we finished the last DVD, we both were caught up in the feeling that we could stay in this time period and with these characters forever they were that engaging. The production is based upon a real life character who lived pretty much as this story unfolds. Which made it twice as compelling.

So, when Amazon.com advertised that they were going to sell the DVD collection, I nailed it right away. I will revisit Duke Street and the charming, engaging and outrageous Louisa Trotter, as played by the peerless Gemma Jones as the Duchess/Cook/Chatelaine, again and again. The entire casting is absolutely superior in the acting as is the story telling. It is typical British fare, elegant, classy, sly, dignified, restrained, stoical within a convoluted story line and fascinating characterizations by the actors. Even the irresistable dog Fred that the doorman Mr. Starr kept as his buddy and to fill his lonely heart. The series...

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