Harlots

ITV Encore, Monday 27 March, 9pm

Keep your smelling salts handy: it’s a racy new costume drama! Co-funded by ITV Encore and US service Hulu, this series stars Samantha Morton, Lesley Manville and Jessica Brown Findlay and is based on the lives of real women in 18th-century London. Margaret (Morton) is a mum and a brothel owner, whose business is under threat from ruthless rival Lydia (Manville). Charlotte (Brown Findlay) is Margaret’s eldest and one of London’s finest working girls, but she soon begins to struggle with her position in society and her family.

“OK, I win boobs, you win hair”