Harlots (UK TV)

Harlots is a British show that premiered at the end of March, so far planned to run to eight parts. For those who love period drama but feel suffocated by the repeated nostalgia-wallowing or deliberately literary style represented by so many other UK dramas of this type, it is a bracing and vulgar antidote. Reminding this viewer of the bracing tone and manner of the short-lived but effective period detective drama  City of Vice a few years ago - albeit with more sex and bottoms in the air, Harlots has been well received so far by critics and viewers. Set in a 1763 London, the narrative is based around the various adventures of a group of prostitutes and their madam, making their way in the face of suppression on moral grounds, professional jealousies, and personal issues. What, for this viewer at least, was most welcome is the feminist nature of the programme with (so far) all of the leading characters being female, having a strong and frequently independent view of themselves -at least as far as possible given their circumstances. (The series is penned by a woman, which helps) The matter-of-fact nature, the un-ceremonial needs-must of their day-to-day working class existence is convincingly portrayed and, while so far one would be foolish to any seek out any depth in the drama, it is colourful with a number of interesting characters. It may not have the heft and grain of the recent instant classic Taboo, or the heritage-heavy respectability of a Downton , but Harlots is still a worthy addition to the schedules and delightfully bawdy, perfectly in keeping with the time in which it is set. It has certainly made me seek out the 2006 TV production A Harlot's Progress, more explicitly Hogarthian by all accounts,  by way of comparison.