Alison Maloney - The World of Mr. Selfridge: The Glamour and Romance

Cover photograph Nicky Johnston

Cover design by Smith & Gilmour

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First published in Great Britain by Simon & Schuster UK Ltd, 2014

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THE WORLD OF MR SELFRIDGE. Copyright 2014 by ITV Ventures Limited. Mr Selfridge (television programme) and ITV Studios Limited, 2013, 2014. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

FIRST U.S. EDITION

ISBN 978-0-06-242224-8

EPub Edition DECEMBER 2015 ISBN 9780062422255

Version 08152019

15 16 17 18 19 /L.E.G.O.SpA 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Images: Marshall Fields dining room (p.26) courtesy of Mary Evans Picture Library; Back to School (p.28) courtesy of The Advertising Archives; The Narcissus Hall at Leighton House (p.51) and The Marchesa Luisa by Giovanni Boldini (p.128) courtesy of Bridgeman Images; The Blue Hat by John Duncan Fergusson (p.148) courtesy of Bridgeman Images and The Fergusson Gallery, Perth & Kinross Council, Scotland. Images on pages 20, 22, 23, 24, 38, 40, 44, 50, 56, 58, 60 all with kind permission of Selfridges archives. All other images courtesy of John Rogers and Christian Black and ITV Studios.

Andrew Davies: When executive producer Kate Lewis first approached me about Mr Selfridge, I have to confess I was reluctant. As far as I could see, she and script executive Siobhan Finnigan were getting excited over a book about shopping and I dont do shopping! But after reading Lindy Woodheads fascinating biography Shopping, Seduction and Mr Selfridge, the book on which the series is based, I found Harry Selfridge to be a fascinating character and the notion of a series that was both a family series and a workplace series seemed very attractive.

Harry was interesting because of his background a self-made man with a very powerful mother behind him and a wife he absolutely adored, yet was never faithful to. But also because he set out to be an ideal father and employer, and he achieved so much.

But who would play Harry? I didnt have anyone in mind when I began working on the script and by the time Jeremy Piven came on board, Id already written two episodes. Kate and I were in Cannes, publicising the show, and somebody mentioned Jeremy, so I sat in my hotel room watching a box set of Entourage and trying to imagine Jeremy in the part of Selfridge. He definitely had the kind of cheeky charm and chutzpah that would fit very well, plus it was a bit of a thrill to have a genuine American. Then, when we met him, it turned out he actually came from Chicago, as did Harry, and he knew the store that Harry had worked in, which was a happy coincidence.

Once we had him on board, it was great to write for him. He has this tremendous energy and charm, though I soon discovered that he is perhaps at his strongest in the quiet, intimate interactions. So we started to write more emotional scenes for him with Rose, and with Lois and the children.

Having been drawn in by Harrys personality, we started thinking about all the other people who were going to be in the story. Some of the real-life characters, such as Rose and the children and Lois, obviously had to be there because we know a reasonable amount about them. Beyond that we know there were staff in the shop and we know what their jobs were, but theres not much recorded about them, so one by one we started conceiving of them. The first character I created was Agnes, because I thought it was interesting for the audience to identify with somebody who has really come from the lowest strata of society, and we decided that she would gradually make her way up in the firm. Originally, we toyed with the idea that she was romantically involved with Selfridge but that didnt fit with his biography, as he never dallied with his staff and, anyway, it would be more interesting for her to rise professionally in a time when it was difficult for women to do so.

Lady Mae was conceived fairly early on, because she acted as a bridge for Harry into London society. As someone who had been a Gaiety Girl, who had married into the aristocracy, she wasnt silver spoon herself, so I thought shed be an intriguing character.

Many of the other characters evolved during the writing and casting process. For instance Miss Mardle, at first, was just a bit of a battle-axe, someone who the young girls would have been in awe of and scared of, and she would be very strict and maintain very high standards. But we had a series of meetings and, one day, as we were just settling down to write over a cup of coffee, Siobhan said, Did you know that Miss Mardle and Mr Grove are having an affair?

Good God, I said. Theyre not!

Yes, said Siobhan. Shes desperately in love with him and shes followed him from store to store. I thought that was a wonderful idea because these two are so upright and strict with the young assistants, and yet they are having this illicit affair and are desperate not to be discovered.

Kate Brooke: As the great-great-granddaughter of a very successful, self-made engineer, Ive always been interested in entrepreneurs, especially of the pre-war era. Those first-generation plutocrats with the visionary ideas fascinate me, so I was instantly drawn to Harrys story. Harry was 100 years ahead of himself and even now his ideas feel modern. He was American, which meant he seems classless in a class-conscious society, and he was the epitome of that wonderful American can do attitude, which is incredibly refreshing. What I love about him as a character is that hes a brilliant manager of people and he understands how to get the best out of his staff. Hes a very optimistic character and a lovely one to write because hes at the heart of the show, a bit like a magician, but hes much better at making things right for the characters around him than he is at making it right himself.

As the shows creator, Andrew laid out a marvellous spread of characters, who were all there and waiting when I arrived. Myself and Kate ORiordan, my fellow writer, then worked with him to move them on and give them stories.

For example, we always imagined the Victor and Agnes relationship, and Andrew set that up quite early. Then there was a scene in episode one, when Henri gives Agnes a rose, and Aisling Loftus and Grgory Fitoussi played so beautifully together that we decided to create a love triangle. There have been lots of arguments along the way about who Agnes should end up with the safe, traditional Victor, who would make a lovely husband, or the creative, dashing Henri. Oddly enough, men always want her to end up with Victor, and women always want her to choose Henri.

For series two we brought in some new characters, but we do a lot of research and we do like to have some kind of factual basis to them. Delphine, for instance, was very much taken from Elinor Glyn, a racy lady from that era who had lots of lovers and was very naughty, and we thought she was marvellous.