Bother at the brothel

FOR SALE Daughter Charlotte ITV Encore, 10pm HEAVING bosoms, corsets, sex and prostitution are at the centre of this saucy drama about a family run brothel in 18th century London. One in five women made a living selling sex in the 1760s – the city’s most valuable commercial activity. And cashing in is brothel owner Margaret Wells (Samantha Morton), who happily sells her own daughters for sex but struggles to reconcile her roles as mother and madam. “I will be taking sealed bids for Lucy’s virginity,” Margaret tells one of the many leering men in this drama. She did the same for her eldest Charlotte ( Jessica Brown Findlay), now one of London’s “brightest stars”. Ah, how proud she must feel. Actually, Charlotte is now the kept woman of Sir George Howard (a hilarious Hugh Skinner), a man recently married but insanely possessive of his new plaything. As this begins, Margaret’s girls are all discussing their reviews in what one can only assume was like the Time Out Guide to Prostitutes. Descriptions include “appealing”, “perspires”, and “only debauched six months ago”. Meanwhile, elsewhere, another brothel madam Lydia Quigley (Lesley Manville) is furious because one of her girls is reviewed as “dead behind the eyes”. But the drama soon ramps up when an angry mob arrive at the Wells residence chanting, “Burn the harlots”. And before long the police officers come knocking, which does not please the clientele inside. “Who dares interfere with a gentleman’s right to go whoring?” shouts one. Well, indeed. Margaret and some of the girls are dragged away. And if arched eyebrows are anything to go by, it looks like this could be the doing of rival madam Lydia. This means brothel wars…