| Ladette to Lady | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Genre | Reality |
| Narrated by | Lucy Briers (2005–08) Ben Gooder (2009–10) |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language | English |
| No. of series | 5 |
| No. of episodes | 27 |
| Production | |
| Production locations | Eggleston Hall (series 1 to 4) Hereford Hall (series 5) |
| Production company | RDF Television |
| Original release | |
| Network | ITV |
| Release | 2 June 2005 (2005-06-02) – 6 August 2010 (2010-08-06) |
| Related | |
| Aussie Ladette to Lady | |
Ladette to Lady is areality-based series that aired in the United Kingdom onITV between June 2005 and August 2010.
The second series ofLadette to Lady was aired in the United Kingdom in October 2006 onITV. The show had viewing figures of 4.45 million to 5.41 million, winning its timeslot each week.[1] A third series followed in 2008, although it was originally planned to air in 2007.
Ladette to Lady was cancelled by ITV on 11 April 2008, but returned in June 2009, featuring Australian, rather than British, ladettes. The series featured the original staff and school.
Ladette to Lady returned on ITV for Series 5 on 20 July 2010. The series saw the return of the familiar staff. However, instead ofEggleston Hall, where all the other series have been featured, this series is based in Hereford Hall.[2]
The series has been parodied onThe Charlotte Church Show asLady to Ladette, in which, conversely, prim and proper girls are taught byChurch and some of her raucous friends to behave in a more ladette-like manner.
The series follows a group ofladettes, who are given an old-fashioned five-week course in learning how to behave like a traditional "lady". They are sent toEggleston Hall, afinishing school for women inTeesdale, which was specially reopened for the show. In the first series, there were ten ladettes, while the second series featured eight ladettes.
Whilst on the premises they are required to wear the school's uniform: a turquoise tweed suit, a white blouse,court shoes, and a pearl necklace. This uniform has varied. They are taught under the supervision and guidance of five instructors and are given various tasks indeportment,elocution,flower arranging,etiquette andcookery. Other skills include needlework, ballroom dancing, ridingside-saddle, drawing, and so on. However, if they can't live up to the standards of ladylike behaviour, they will be expelled. One participant is expelled at the end of each episode, so by the end of the programme there will only be three left. Then the teachers must decide upon one winner, depending on who they think has improved the most and how they performed in the final challenge. However, all three finalists receive an Eggleston Hall diploma.
The teachers at Eggleston Hall run a very strict routine and are extremely well experienced in their particular subjects. The teachers who taught the ladettes at Eggleston Hall were:
For the ladettes' final challenge, they had to hold afashion show. At the fashion show were their family, friends, eligible bachelors, the failed contestants, and the teachers from Eggleston Hall. The girls were marked onposture, grooming,elocution,floristry andcookery. The girl who was judged as the most improved would win asports car with a value of £20,000, however, the fact that the winner would receive a car was unknown to the finalists. The eventual winner ofLadette to Lady 2005 and the sports car was Hayley Brisland from London.
The ladettes' final challenge was to pass themselves off as real ladies at adebutante ball. The Debutantes' Ball was attended by a number of eligible bachelors,Lords,Ladies, selectaristocrats and all of the teachers from Eggleston Hall. They were marked on theirposture, grooming, elocution,confidence and their capability to hold a conversation. The overall winner ofLadette to Lady 2006 was Victoria Jenkins, who impressed the teachers with her charm and final transformation. A close runner-up was Clara Mayer who later became a chalet girl.
Several months after series two ofLadette to Lady, all of the ladettes from both series one and series two were invited back to Eggleston Hall, along with teachers Gill Harbord, Rosemary Shrager and Liz Brewer, in order to see how the ladettes had changed and how they had progressed in their lives.
During theEnd of Term Report, Clare Randall, who during series one was a heavy drinker, revealed that she had had a baby, reformed her life, and quit drinkingalcohol altogether. Michelle King from series one, as a result of the teachings of Eggleston Hall, was able to progress further in her life with more confidence. However, there were those who had not improved; to the surprise of the teachers, the winner of series two, Victoria Jenkins, still had her old job and had not progressed with her studies.
The ladettes' final challenge was to be presented as debutantes to their parents, to give a speech and to dance the waltz. They were required to answer questions from selectaristocrats.
The overall winner ofLadette to Lady 2008 was Nicole Elouise Hart, who reacquired her love of horses. All the contestants were given lessons in ridingside-saddle; she excelled at this and was offered the opportunity to compete after the conclusion of the series. She later went toCairns to promote the Australian series and was used in the introduction shots.
Also notable was the reintroduction of Series Two contestant Louise Porter, who in the interim had begun a career as aglamour model.
In the final episode the principal and vice principal travelled to Australia to catch up with five of the participants three months after the graduation. Zoe had started volunteering at an animal centre in Adelaide and had sorted out her alcohol problem, Sarah got a new job, and Nicole quit her old job and was about to start a horticultural course, but Kristyn and Skye had not seemed to change.
Series Four brought with it controversy in several members of the support cast quitting filming or being fired. Reports inThe Daily Telegraph's Mandrake gossip column stated that Charles Lush, a self-styled baron, who appeared as the school governor, was asked byRDF Media, the production company, to quit filming after they found his name on list ofBritish National Party members during filming for the series.[3]
William Hanson, etiquette expert, also quit filming after only one day, stating that the programme was 'detrimental to promoting good manners and etiquette' and that the so-called bachelors were just as bad as the girls with a few of them already married.[4]
Series Five premiered on 20 July 2010 onITV (exceptSTV, where it premiered on 17 August 2010). Like Series Four, this series again features ladettes from Australia. The setting was moved from Eggleston Hall in North East England to "Hereford Hall" near Wales. Hereford Hall was a country house hired specifically for the show and not a functioning school, although that is how it was presented in the show.[5]
| Series | Start date | End date | Episodes |
|---|---|---|---|
| One | 2 June 2005 | 30 June 2005 | 5 |
| Two | 28 September 2006 | 26 October 2006 | 5 |
| Three | 22 January 2008 | 26 February 2008 | 5 |
| Four | 2 June 2009 | 7 July 2009 | 6 |
| Five | 2 July 2010 | 6 August 2010 | 6 |
The series has also been broadcast in the United States on theSundance Channel, in Australia on bothThe LifeStyle Channel and theNine Network (Series 2 and 3, after Series 3 finished showing on the Nine Network, it aired one episode ofBad Lads Army the following week before cancelling it and showing Season 1 ofLadette to Lady) as well as theABC (Series 1), New Zealand onPrime,Sweden onKanal 5, Poland onTVN,Denmark onTV2 Zulu,Israel on Channel 8, theNetherlands onRTL 5, Canada onCosmopolitan TV,Estonia onKanal 11 andKanal 2,Belgium onVitaya and Norway onNRK1 andNRK3.
TheLadette to Lady format has been adapted for other national versions around the world.
| Country | Name of series | Network | Seasons & winners | Number of episodes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Australia | Aussie Ladette to Lady | Nine Network ITV(season 2) | Season 1 (2009): Nicole Mitchell | 13 | |
 Netherlands | Dames in de Dop | RTL 5 | Season 1 (2007): Anna Jonckers | 62 | |
 Poland | Projekt Lady | TVN | Season 1 (2016): Patrycja Wieja | 69 | |
 Russia | Patsanki | Friday! | Season 1 (2016): Yulia Kovaleva | 105 | |
| New Patsanki | Season 1 (2022): Kira Medvedeva | 34 | |||
 Ukraine | Vid patsanki do panyanki | Season 1 (2010): Yulia Balayeva | 22 | ||
| Vid patsanki do panyanki | Novyi Kanal | Season 1 (2016): Galina Poludnevich | 69 | ||
| Patsanki Nove Zhittya | Season 1 (2017): Irina Slyunko | 48 | |||