"You've been creating quite a stir, haven't you?"
A group of women and men dressed in turn-of-20th century outfits are standing inside a carpet warehouse in Northwest London. They talk to each other while standing - waiting for a signal - in a fake marble-floor hall that looks very much like an old, high-end shopping store. A big staircase leads down to a floor full of hats for women, top hats for men, handkerchiefs, gloves, umbrellas, walking sticks and perfumes and many other goodies on offer. And on a table, books from a famous author are stacked up - ready to be signed. Suddenly another group of people in shorts and T shirts shout instructions. A minute later everyone is ready. And action! One of the men in early 20th century garb is introduced as the famous author, whose books are being sold, but whose identity is kept secret for now. The other, wearing one of the smartest early 1900s suits in the room, turns out to be Harry Gordon Selfridge, founder of London's famous Selfridges Department Store. Someone misses a line, and the production staff in shorts returns. The TV shoot takes a small break...
Hot on the heels of Downton Abbey, 2013 sees the arrival of a new period drama on ITV. Set in Selfridges department store at the start of the 20th Century, the new biopic captures a time of decadence, female empowerment and shopping. Sound familiar? That’s because it is reports the Radio Times. Cast your mind back a couple of months and you’ll recall the BBC introducing us to a similar format with The Paradise, a northern equivalent following the fictional progress of the first British department store under the entrepreneurial eye of John Moray.
When ITV originally announced plans to dramatise the story of Harry Gordon Selfridge, the flamboyant founder of the Oxford Street retail emporium, it seemed to have an autumn ratings winner on its hands. But that was before the BBC stole a march on its rival. Furious ITV executives were given little choice but to push back the launch of their series, Mr Selfridge. Publicly, the broadcaster says it had not set a transmission date and would not be drawn into a row over scheduling. Privately, there has been muttering about dirty tricks – not least because the BBC, humbled by its trouncing in the ratings when it pitched its new version of Upstairs Downstairs against ITV’s Downton Abbey, rushed out its drama before filming had even been completed. For its part, the BBC insists that its series – written by Bill Gallagher, who wrote the recent adaptation of Lark Rise to Candleford – was commissioned first and that all resemblances to ITV’s offering are coincidental. Yes, The Paradise is based on an Emile Zola novel (Au Bonheur des Dames) and set in 1875, four decades before Harry Selfridge’s adventures in retailing. But the similarities are striking, nevertheless.
The Paradise starred Emun Elliott as a handsome, moustachioed businessman with a reckless streak, an ability to make women swoon at his feet, and a dream: to build a gleaming department store that will revolutionise the way people shop. Mr Selfridge stars Jeremy Piven as a handsome, moustachioed businessman with a reckless streak and… you get the picture. The Entourage actor takes the title role as the maverick American businessman who founded the landmark Oxford Street store in 1909. After shipping his wife Rose (Frances O’Connor) and children over to British shores while he runs his store, Harry crosses paths with glamorous stage entertainer Ellen Love (Zoe Tapper) whose alluring looks make her the chosen face of Selfridges.
The main difference is tone: though its producer, Simon Lewis, described The Paradise as "sort of Sex and the City in the 19th century", the north-east of England setting and gloomy production make it seem like a Catherine Cookson adaptation. Mr Selfridge is more fun-filled – unsurprising, as it is scripted by Andrew Davies, king of the rollicking costume drama and the man who put Colin Firth’s Mr Darcy in that see-through white shirt. Set in a similar period to the original series of Downton, Mr Selfridge focuses on the racier side of Edwardian life, Davies promises as much nudity "as you can get within the limits of prime-time viewing" in his stated quest to make "shopping as thrilling as sex."
To that end, ITV has thrown the cheque book at Mr Selfridge, painstakingly recreating in minute detail the story of the American 'showman of shopping'. Pioneering and reckless, with an almost manic energy, he created a theatre of retail where any topic or trend that was new, exciting, entertaining - or sometimes just eccentric - was showcased. Making the show look old and real is key. Selfridge's office on set features such items as an old lamp, a big desk and a fireplace. A Selfridges sign and such mottos as 'Each day counts in building a business' can also be found. Art director Jo Riddell says she left the general principles of Selfridges and its look at the time in tact. "But the lifts are enhanced and the revolving doors sexed up a bit" to look like they would later in time to make the look more appealing and timely and possibly allow further seasons to be shot without the need for major changes, she says. Rob Harris, production designer on the show, said that Downton Abbey had the advantage of an existing building. "We can't film at Selfridges, so, we had to create a major player in the show from scratch. And our decision was to make things a tad modern." For example, the show uses early cars instead of horses, which were still common at the time. "That helps to convey his modern thinking" about shopping, Harris said about the Selfridge character. Even the working replica of the plane in which Louis Bleriot first flew the English Channel is used for one of Selfridge’s promotions.
Intended to be screened over two series of five episodes, TV insiders are confident that, like Downton, it will run and run. Although the show taps into renewed interest in UK period drama, it is actually international in tone and feel, says ITV Studios Global Entertainment MD, Maria Kyriacou. "Mr Selfridge is not defined by being British, it’s actually a quintessentially American story about a guy who came from nowhere, and it is not a class-based piece of British history," she states. "There’s a huge openness in places including the US at the moment for high-end UK drama, but this is not defined by the territory it comes from." The story arc follows Harry and his family, staff, business partners and adversaries from the opening of his huge London store. London provides the backdrop and the series captures London life in that era, from the boardroom to the theatres and the back streets. "The period element is secondary to Mr Selfridge being an engaging tale", Kyriacou adds. "It’s not about it being a period piece, it’s just a good story from a great writer and it has much higher production values than other shows out of the UK. That and the cast elevate it above most of the other drama out there."
So, while Mr Selfridge has the same glossy feel as Downton, Davies insists that it is certainly not "Downton in a shop". They are, he says, totally different, with Downton concentrating on preserving an era, while Mr Selfridge captures the excitement, fun and wickedness of the master showman who created a brave new liberating world for women by putting the sex into shopping with his paint and powder. Through the innovations and spectacular events Harry staged within the store, the stories will shine a light on hidden moments of the history of women, be it fashion, cosmetics, technology or domestic affairs. Davies says: "We have different values to Downton. We are about glamour, modernity and are also anti-aristocracy."
Davies' source material is Lindy Woodhead’s 2007 biography Shopping, Seduction and Mr Selfridge. Upon its first publication in 2007, Evening Standard called Woodhead’s book 'an enthralling description of fashion,' the Sunday Telegraph said it 'conveys the excitement of changes in fashion and technology in the late Edwardian era' with Vogue attesting it 'will change your view of shopping forever'. On why he undertook the task of bringing the 'showman of shopping' to television, he says: "Selfridge liked to live on the edge, he was addicted to risk and enjoyed being in debt. And despite being a dedicated family man, deeply in love with his wife and devoted to his four children, he was fatally drawn to other women – and the women he chose tended to be wildly attractive, high-maintenance and unstable. A rich mix indeed."
All of which makes it surprising that Piven suffered the indignity of having his first sex scene in the opener cut. It showed Selfridge getting rid of his current mistress after learning that his wife and children were arriving. "We thought it might put people off him, that he was being unfaithful to his wife before we’d even got to know him," Davies explains. But Piven took it in his stride. "It’s not an ego blow," he insists. "From decades of auditioning, you grow a very thick skin."
As Andrew Davies likes to "inject a bit of naughtiness" to give his scripts a modern feel, Tapper says his actresses have to be up for anything. "I do a dance number in pink pyjamas while hurling teddy bears into the audience from the stage of the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane," she laughs. "There’s also a scene where Ellen poses as the face of Selfridges, on the wing of Blériot’s historic, Channel-crossing plane. [They managed to get a replica inside the Neasden set, just as Harry had managed to get the real thing into the store in 1909.] She’s draped in scarves like Isadora Duncan." The cocaine-snorting scenes were also a hoot. "Opium was possibly more the drug of choice in those days, but cocaine is Ellen’s poison. Before putting it up my nose, I made the props department tell me what was in it – mostly flour and lactose powder. I made them take a bit themselves, though – just to be on the safe side."
As mother to a 17-month-old daughter, Ava, it will be clear to anyone tuning in to Mr Selfridge that the shapely Tapper has lost the baby weight quite quickly. "But it’s annoying when women say, ‘Oh, I’m lucky. I’m just naturally skinny,’" she grumbles. "In my case, I walked everywhere with the buggy after Ava was born and ate sensibly. I thought I might go to the gym, but it never happened. Now, I do a bit of yoga or pilates at home while Ava sleeps." Which means she wouldn’t be ashamed to show her post-baby body on screen? "Women’s bodies change – mine has – and we should celebrate it," she says. "I’ve always admired Kate Winslet. She has a lovely body, but it’s not a perfect Hollywood size zero. It’s the body of a woman who’s had children." As an actress, though, she says she is careful about nudity. "There’s a danger in our industry for women to feel pressurised to take their clothes off," she says. "I’ve certainly done it, but only, I hope, where the script and the character required it. In Twenty Thousand Streets Under the Sky I took off my clothes because I was playing a prostitute. What else would you expect? But I can’t bear it when you’re looking at breasts on screen for no particular reason. At this stage, I think I know the difference."
Harry Selfridge, of course, is smitten from the first time he sees her. "Ellen underestimates Harry at first," thinks Tapper. "She’s quite used to the attention of men and perhaps uses them for their spoils. But Harry comes along and is quite similar to Ellen in a way. He also shines too brightly and they’re both massively drawn to one another. It takes her by surprise that she actually ends up falling in love with him. Her barriers go down. She loves and relishes the jewels, the glamour and the fame that is attached to him. But she underestimates the fact that she has actually fallen for him as well. Harry is very good at playing the family man as well as the lover. He enjoys spoiling Ellen and giving her this platform for more fame and glamour, as well as jewels and an apartment. Ellen is very much the other woman, a sexy red-lipped showgirl. But at the same time there’s almost an innocence to her in that she believes her own hype. She’s enjoying herself, living her moment and doesn’t necessarily realise the reality of the situation at all. Harry thinks that when he’s finished with her that will be it and he can go on to the next woman. But Ellen has other ideas. He can’t get rid of her that easily."
Mr. Selfridge is set at a time of great change for women. "The suffragette movement was beginning to get into its stride and certainly in Andrew Davies’ adaptation Harry Selfridge is in favour of this and actively supports it," adds Tapper. "It was a great time for the emancipation of women. And in a funny sort of way the whole shopping experience that Harry Selfridge created almost aided that. It suddenly became a respectable pastime for women to go shopping, it allowed them to go out without a chaperone. He opened his store to any class of woman with something for everyone from bargain basement to high end luxury goods. Andrew has written some fabulous, really strong female roles for this drama. At the time things were really happening for women and it’s exciting to film that."
Mr Selfridge instinctively understood a lot about women while Piven – often pictured with a pretty girl on his arm – claims to be the opposite. "I know very little," he sighs. "This is a character who is devoted to his wife and kids but strays. I don’t judge him, but try to give him as much integrity as possible. It’s a bit like a Greek tragedy. You need to celebrate his whole life, which was incredible." Davies, creator of the BBC’s highly-acclaimed Pride And Prejudice, says he was also drawn to Selfridge’s personality. "He’s a charismatic hero with self-destructive tendencies at the centre of a drama that explores the world of business and the joys and traumas of family life," he says. "I began to see parallels to my favourite TV show The Sopranos."
Davies says his very rich central character made his job easy. You can say that again. Harry Gordon Selfridge has the ultimate rags-to-riches-to-rags story. The only surprise is no one has thought to tell his tale before. He went from an upbringing in a single-parent home to the man who became known as the Earl of Oxford Street. But he died a pauper. "The fascinating thing is that the fruit of his labour is still here today – we can all go to Selfridges – and it’s in the same building," says Davies. "The present company has been enormously enthusiastic about the whole thing – well, it will be terrific publicity for them. 'They’ve shown us around and given us access to their archives. The only thing they haven’t done is allowed us to go around the shop and choose something for free. But you can’t have everything!"
A showman and marketing genius from a young age, Harry worked his way up the ladder at Chicago department store Field Leiter and Company, where he’s credited with coining the phrases 'The customer is always right' and 'Only so many shopping days until Christmas'. He became wealthy and married Rosalie Buckingham of a prominent Chicago family. While on holiday in London he spotted an opportunity and returned a few months later with £400,000 (around £23 million in today’s money) to set up Selfridges on Oxford Street.
The first ten-part series of Mr Selfridge – there will hopefully be four series to cover Harry’s eventful life – focuses on 1909, when he opened the store. We see him arriving from Chicago with his wife and four children. She never settled down awfully well and kept going back to America. "It didn’t help that he also had his mother living with them – she was a formidable old lady who’d been very strict with him. But when they got to London even she wasn’t able to keep him on the straight and narrow," continues Davies, laughing at the rules Harry made for his store. "They emphatically said there should be no hanky-panky between staff but there was a lot going on and Harry himself was the main culprit."
He was an unashamed womaniser – having affairs with dancers Isadora Duncan and Anna Pavlova, and French singer Gaby Deslys. Once Rosalie died, his sexual proclivities knew no bounds. His love of women was to be the main reason for his eventual ruin – dancing twins Jenny and Rosie Dolly gambled away more than £5 million of his fortune. Although the first series focuses on Harry’s happier early days, Andrew says, ‘You have a sense of the tragedy to come. He’s quite a problematic character from the start. He has his demons and by the end of the series his marriage is on the rocks. There’s quite a bit of darkness there.’
While Harry is obviously the main character, Andrew has created a vast supporting cast. It’s a mixture of real people and invented characters. "It feels like a big ocean liner – there’s a sense of a huge enterprise moving forward with Selfridge at the helm. We’ve used a lot of the real things Harry got up to to publicise his store. If someone was in the news he’d get them in. Anna Pavlova came in and did a private dance. He got Blériot – the first person to fly the Channel – in with his plane and thousands of people came to see it. But we’ve invented other characters our audience will hopefully love. We have a lovely young working-class girl called Agnes Towler, played by Aisling Loftus, who’s like our little heroine, and Zoë Tapper plays a girl we’ve called Ellen Love, Harry’s first mistress. There are lots of tremulous moments that are beautifully played. They’ll twang a few heartstrings."
Davies saya he was thrilled to get Piven, best known for playing the explosive Ari Gold in Entourage, as his Mr Selfridge. "I love his character in Entourage – he’s somebody who could get away with more than most people, just as Selfridge does," he says. "In the flesh he’s also very charismatic and cheeky and he has a playful manner that I’ve written into the script. Like Harry, he grew up in Chicago. But Jeremy’s a bit of a man of mystery too. You never quite know where he is, what he’s doing or what he’s thinking. It’s surprising." Davies tends to meet the show’s actors during read-throughs of the script. "I try to not go on set much," he says drily. "There’s never much for me to do apart from telling the actors how wonderful they are – they like that. I do most of my work in my study but I do try to go to read-throughs. Because the cast have got to know each other they’ve become like jolly get-togethers."
Often the actors will sneak up to me with good ideas for things their characters might do next. Ways in which their parts can be expanded and so on. Sometimes they work their way into the script. "We have this wonderful French actor called Grégory Fitoussi, who plays the head of design," he explains. "In that clichéd way I was thinking his character would be gay but when Grégory arrived he said, 'I don’t see many women for me in this story. Usually I have many women.' And I thought, 'Yes, you probably do need some women.' I love it when the actors make you change your opinion about a character."
Former university lecturer Andrew is best known for his adaptations for the BBC – this is his first ITV commission since Dr Zhivago a decade ago. But he had a little fall-out with the channel when it cancelled two of the shows he was working on and announced it would be doing fewer corset dramas. Now he’s working in direct competition with the BBC, which, as we know, was determined its own show about a department store, The Paradise, would beat Mr Selfridge in the ratings and changed transmission dates so it aired first. The Paradise attracted ratings of around five million – half of what Downton and Call The Midwife pick up. "As soon as it became known we were doing Mr Selfridge they dusted down this idea they’d had on the back burner for ten years and decided to do it. It was a surprise they got it on air before us, but I did enjoy it. I’m confident, though, that we have a terrific show and hopefully even more people will watch us."
Indeed, ITV are so confident Davies is already working on the second series. "I’ve really had fun writing this," he says. "I’ve even managed to get interested in fashion. Undergarments principally. Corsets have always been an interest of mine." And with a cheeky laugh he’s off to imagine more shenanigans for Mr Selfridge and his staff.
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