Olde England is very merry in Hulu’s delicious ‘Harlots.’
Olde England is very merry in Hulu’s “Harlots.”
The year is 1763, and we’re told that 1 in 5 London women makes her living through sex. But the women of “Harlots,” Hulu’s delicious new drama, which is available for streaming now, are in control of their lives, their bodies and their fates — to the extent anyone can be in control of fate.
Sisters are doing it for themselves, not to mention their mother, Margaret Wells (Samantha Morton), a bawd of some renown in 18th century London and the focus of this series.
Margaret’s elder daughter, Charlotte ( Jessica Brown Findlay), has a regular thing going with a jealous, childish fop who wants her to sign an exclusivity contract. Margaret calls her the “village idiot” for refusing to sign, but Charlotte isn’t about to be bound to anyone.
Margaret’s younger daughter, Lucy (Eloise Smyth), is still a virgin, well past the age Margaret was the first time she was with a man. Margaret may say she wants to auction Lucy’s maidenhead off to the highest bidder, but she is still a mother after all. Most of the male characters are fools, slavering fiends, fops or lovelorn puppies, their actions determined more often than not by women, especially the “Harlots.”
What about love, you may ask? While cynicism about sex is dominant, the women are not heartless. At times against their professional instincts, they begin to show signs of needing and wanting love as much as the next woman.
The script is evocative of Henry Fielding’s “Tom Jones, a Foundling” (1749) or Daniel Defoe’s “Moll Flanders” (1722), and the performances are sublime. Morton and Manville make engaging adversaries — rather like 18th century versions of “Dynasty’s” Alexis and Krystle. Smyth, Findlay, Holli Dempsey as a bargaining harlot and Dorothy Atkinson as a puritanical, crusading hypocrite, are equally superb.