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In Victorian London, Louisa Leyton works her way up from servant to renowned cook to proprietress of the upper-class Bentinck Hotel in Duke Street, St James's.
Gemma Jones
Louise Trotter
1976
Wanting to become an excellent cook, outspoken and ambitious Louisa Leyton persuades Monsieur Alex, a French chef working in the London home of Lord Henry Norton, to take her on as an assistant. Resented by other kitchen staff, Louisa bonds with Mary–target of their frequent malice–forms a friendship with butler Gus Trotter, and fends off attentions of the aristocratic Charlie Tyrrell. When Lord Henry unexpectedly returns during Monsieur Alex's holiday, Louisa must cook for a group that includes the Prince of Wales.
Hardly flattered and severely compromised, Louisa has caught the eye of the Prince of Wales and is pressed into marrying Augustus Trotter.
All bets are off when HRH becomes His Majesty, King Edward VII and Louisa and Augustus must plan what lies ahead for them.
Heavily in debt, Louisa is on a juggernaut that lands in her in the hospital, after she collapses from exhaustion. But, that handsome devil and consoling angel, Charlie Tyrrell, devises a plan to save her hotel.
With Charlie Tyrell now in residence as the first guest, the hotel is now officially open to the public. Louisa has set a high standard for herself and is relying on word of mouth among the right kind of people to bring in the clientèle. Charlie invites an attractive, but married, woman for dinner in his rooms only to have her leave when she realizes she is the only guest. He invites Louisa to join him and unexpectedly, they soon are lovers. When Charlie must leave for America, Louisa is heartbroken but she also is pregnant. At the appropriate time, she leaves the hotel with Mary in charge to go and give birth. Soon Charlie is back and completely unaware of what has been going on, tracks her down. He also has a proposition on how to care for their child
A con artist, posing as a Baron, dupes a greedy American guest and seduces a lonely young bride, as a vigilant and intrigued Louisa monitors his every move.
A Liberal politician convinces a colleague that he can seduce a married lady of impeccable virtue.
A woman from Starr's past, down on her luck, begs him to use his influence to obtain a job for her at the Bentinck.
When a kindly, but modest man asks for a room at the Bentinck Hotel, he is given the short shrift. However when Louisa and Charlie find out the reason for his visit, he is treated like a visiting dignitary.
A handsome young guest creates a rift between Mary and Louisa and persuades the Major to invest the remainder of his inheritance in a very risky venture.
A wily journalist poses as a temporary porter and gathers information on Louisa that could destroy her personal and professional life.
Charlie is shocked to learn that one of his closest friends, Lord Elleston, arranged for his horse to lose at Ascot.
All are intrigued when an attractive young lady asks to see Lord Haslemere -- who is she, what does she want, and more to the point, what is she after?
Louisa turns the air blue, but hardly a sedate navy, when she buys a summer resort adjacent to a posh private club at Cowes.
With the death of His Majesty, King Edward VII, an era ends for Britain and for Louisa Trotter. Pressing forward, however, Charlie Tyrell (Lord Haslemere) has proposed to lovely Margaret Rosslyn and the newlyweds leave the Bentinck to live in a suitable house and start a family.
1977
Louisa's only brother, ne'er do well Arthur, returns to London after a decade. Her mother pressures Louisa into offering him a job at the Bentinck, running the risk of alienating the rest of her staff.
When two high spirited Oxford students play a prank on Louisa, she goes along with the fun and finds a Professor of Classics pitching the woo to her. Meanwhile, Lord and Lady Haslemere come down from Yorkshire to shop for their London home.
Louisa takes a callow chauffeur in tow and tries to turn him into a 'proper gentleman,' when his kind, elderly and wealthy employer dies suddenly and leaves him the bulk of her estate.
Louisa visits Lord and Lady Haslemere in Yorkshire and finds a bleak and desperately unhappy household.
Louisa urges Charlie to get on with his life and a smooth and very suave actor beds Violet, who promptly gets the sack.
With the outbreak of the Great War, the staff are galvanized to help in the effort and keep the hotel running as usual. Louisa takes in a Belgian refugee, a master pastry chef. Charlie enlists and leaves a worried Louisa as he departs for France .
Louisa is concerned when a government official informs her that the Bentinck has become a spies nest and implicates a member of her staff.
When the hotel sustains damage after it's grazed by a bomb, Ethel takes a shine to a conscientious objector, assigned to ferret out a potential UXB. Though nobody was injured, Starr, sadly, loses his beloved pooch in the rubble.
Louisa brings a bit of England to France when the Major enlists her to fashion a tea and sandwich shop, military style and Charlie (Lord Haslemere) and an ecstatic Luisa agree to marry once the 'guns are silent.'
Charlie returns to London and the Bentinck when he's been wounded and puts on a cheerful and brave face, but his situation is far more serious, as Louisa and the Major suspected.
With the war at an end, Louisa is at the precipice of an emotional collapse and financial ruin.
Ghosts of Visits to Yorkshire Past interfere with key decisions Louisa must make in the present, chiefly, deciding what will be best for her daughter, Lottie and her future.
While a few of the staff know of Lottie's origins, others have set their tongues wagging about just why this young girls seems to be staying at the Bentinck. Louisa wont put up with it and sets out to end the gossip. Mary meanwhile takes an interest in her and invites her to tea with her friend Brian, the violin player. He immediately takes an interest in Lottie and grates at the constant stream of orders from Mary.
Lottie returns to the Bentinck from finishing school in Switzerland for a bit of a holiday and has her art teacher, Miss Olive Bradford, in tow. Lottie has become quite the young lady, having learned the rules of high society and losing her Yorkshire accent. The Major takes quite an interest in Miss Bradford but Louisa warns him that she is an old maid who may be out to get her hooks into him. Lottie also finds a beau, hotel guest Howard Blenkiron who takes an interest in her from their first meeting.
Louisa and Lottie are at loggerheads -- Louisa wants her daughter to be a proper lady, as befits the daughter of a Viscount. Lottie is confident that she has the talent and the looks to become a major musical star of the London stage.
Change is in the air at the hotel and in the lives of its many residents. An American writer, Sophie Applegate, would like to pen a book about Louisa's life, successes and failures. Louise isn't all that keen on the venture but eventually rises to the occasion and opens up about her past.
