All Episodes 2005 - 2010

Eggleston hall finishing school re opens and invites some of Britons worst Ladettes to enrol. As the new ladettes arrive, the Eggleston hall teachers soon realise that they have been set a huge challenge. The new girls are stripped of all their ‘ladette’ clothes and piercings, and from now on at all times must wear the Eggleston hall Uniform, Tweed suits and pearls. As the strict regime of lessons begins the ladettes find that finishing school is going to be a lot harder than they had anticipated. Liz Brewers sexual etiquette lessons tug a few unexpected heartstrings with Becky Squire, self confessed man eater- who vows to change for good. The ladettes introduction to high society comes in an invitation from the Cunliffe-Listers to a shooting weekend at their grand stately home, Burton Agnes Hall. The lure of alcohol and a wide selection of eligible bachelors is too much for some of the girls, who quickly revert to type. Back at Eggleston hall, the first of the weekly assessments are a lot harder than the ladettes had imagined, the teachers do not hold back in their criticism. The first ladette is asked to leave.

This week in Ladette to Lady the girls have there biggest challenge yet, to host a dinner party for over twenty guests. The girls will have to cook a three course meal, including home made ravioli and engastrated fowl, a goose stuffed with eight other birds. The Ladettes are given a makeover, hairdressers to royalty Judy and Mimo Russo arrive at Eggleston Hall to transform them into sophisticated ladies. But a pub trip jeopardises 1 girls' opportunity to join the dinner party festivities and socialise with the guests. And yet another girl will be asked to leave Eggleston Hall.

In Episode 3 of Ladette to Lady, the remaining 6 ladettes are set their most demanding and exciting challenge yet, they have the chance to be chalet girls in Switzerland. In true Eggleston Hall tradition the head of a Chalet girl recruitment company, Cleone Stenhouse returns to the finishing school after many years, to recruit some new blood. Cleone only has three jobs in Verbier, so the remaining three girls willl have to stay at Eggleston Hall. The girls learn to make beds, clean and cook in altitude, in preparation for their interviews with Cleone. Clara, Victoria and Fran are ecstatic when they hear that they have got the jobs. They set off to the Ski resort of Verbier. The chosen ladettes soon find out that they have got their work cut out being a chalet girl, but still manage to indulge in some Apres Ski. Meanwhile the girls back at Eggleston have been set a strict regime of work and are rewarded with a quiet drink at the pub, but the girls just can't resist the lure of the local nightclub and local men... Once again another girl is asked to leave.

This week the teachers leave the five ladettes alone at Eggleston Hall to host a country house weekend. They will be provided with domestic staff including a butler and must lay on two days of well-planned hospitality for a selection of eligible bachelors. Leaving the ladettes in charge of Eggleston Hall is a huge gamble and there’s little sign they are up to the challenge. Taken to a smart bar in Harrogate by Etiquette teacher Liz Brewer the ladettes get plastered and Essex Hairdresser Frances Rowe flashes her breasts. The following morning they are confronted by cookery teacher Rosemary Shrager who asks if any of them really become ladies? Frances is chastened and she tearfully confesses all promising to turn over a new leaf. Over the next few days the ladettes are determined to show the staff that they can behave like responsible young adults and the prospect of some of their favourite bachelors coming to stay provides additional motivation. On Friday morning the staff leave the school and Frances Rowe is left in charge of the key. She’s determined to prove that she could be lady of the manor but scouser Louise Porter has other ideas and starts drinking almost as soon as the teachers have gone. By the time the guests arrive Louise is getting out of control and after dinner she tries to get everyone to play a risqué game called Bottom’s which involves blindfolding the bachelors and making them feel their hostess’s bottoms. Frances is having none of it and decorum briefly prevails. But the tension erupts in a ugly catfight in the early hours and the Frances and Louise have to be separated by their appalled guests. The following morning Principal Gill Harbord is called back to the school and one of the girls expelled. The four ladettes remaining, try hard to get the house party back on track and with the teachers due to return for the black-tie dinner dance on Saturday evening there’s everything to play for. Remarkably, the ladettes rise to the

It's the fifth and final week at Eggleston Hall and only three ladettes are left at the Finishing School. Now they face the ultimate challenge: to "come out" at a Debutantes' Ball. Wearing dresses they have made Eggleston Hall the ladettes will each make an entrance and be judged on their poise, grooming, confidence and elocution by a selection of aristocrats including Lady Alexandra Roche, Sir David Roche and Sir Tobias Clarke. The ladettes will come out alongside seven real debutantes and failure to measure up will result in public humiliation. It's the final test of whether Finishing School has worked and at the end of it one of the ladettes will be declared the winner. In addition to preparing for the Ball the girls must pass exams in all subjects in order to graduate. They've got just four days left to perfect their flower-arranging, elocution, deportment, and to make a gigantic seven-tiered cake which will be on display at the ball threatening to collapse spectacularly if they get it wrong. The Ball is being held at a grand country house in North Yorkshire. As the first debutantes make an entrance the staff are in despair: the competition looks insurmountable. But as the ladettes make an entrance in their stunning Lindka Cierach ball dresses they are truly unrecognisable. The girls have performed better than any of the teachers expected and the aristocrats are suitably impressed. And after five weeks the people who sent them to Eggleston Hall in the first place - their parents - arrive at the Ball to behold the finished articles. All that remains is for the teachers to decide who shall be declared the winner.

The ladettes have just 5 days to prepare for their first big test a ‘Fruits de Mer’ luncheon at one of Scotland’s most magnificent stately homes, Manderston where they will meet the eligible bachelors. They will be expected to show off what they’ve learnt at Finishing School so far, including how to tackle sophisticated food with appropriate table manners. The girls first lessons is Oyster eating and the results are disastrous. Army girl Simone returns her half digested shellfish to the table. “It felt like I was swallowing my own phlegm you know?” In the 1950’s it was essential for a lady to be correctly dressed for every occasion. Mrs Brewer asks the girls to show her what they might wear to the end of week task. Unimpressed she asks them to choose from her hand picked selection of clothes. Most of the girls delight in the options but again it’s Liverpudlian, Charlotte Donoghue who causes trouble and refuses to change out of her revealing dress. It’s not a move designed to impress Mrs Brewer who informs her she looks like an, “absolute slut” and that “she can’t go to lunch showing her breasts”. A fight ensues and Charlotte storms off calling Mrs Brewer “a slut” in return. A crisis meeting is called and Charlotte leaves Eggleston Hall, after just 2 days, having learnt nothing. Having missed a whole day of classes the ladettes are ill prepared for the end of week task but still manage to turn the eye of the eligible bachelors. The next day the ladettes face the ordeal of the weekly assessments. One by one the girls must face the staff and account for their performance at the luncheon and in class. Then the first ladette will be ‘invited to leave’ Eggleston Hall and a car is already waiting to take her away. The ladettes get the roasting of a lifetime and one by one their hard façade is stripped away leaving some in tears, and none wanting to be the first to leave.

At the start of their second week at Finishing School six ladettes are faced with a daunting challenge. On Saturday night a selection of eligible bachelors are coming to Eggleston Hall and the girls must cook them an elaborate 3 course dinner including soufflé pancakes. Under the fearsome tutelage of cookery teacher Rosemary Shrager, the girls have got just five days to master some of the most testing techniques in haut cuisine. But it’s not just the dinner that’s worrying the staff. This term’s ladettes are the worst intake yet, indeed the teachers are unsure they are teachable at all. They hope that a physical transformation might motivate them to act like ladies. Three grooming experts are drafted in and a whole day is spent eradicating the last vestiges of ladette style. The teachers are so impressed with the results that, just like the finishing school girls of the 1950’s, they allow the ladettes a night out at the local pub. Mrs Shrager sends them off with the warning, Her warning is not heeded the girls hit the bar with vengeance. Simone Webber throws up with in ten minutes of arriving and soon after Cockney rebel Holly Clements is straddling and snogging one of the unsuspecting locals. On the girls drunken return to the hall Mrs Shrager is “appalled” to find the girls drunk, disorderly and very disrespectful. The morning after the girls face the wrath of the teachers, but Army girl Simone Webber has reached her limit and lashes out at them, storming out. Mrs Shrager finds her packed, ready to leave and riddled with guilt. She manages to persuade her, for the first time in her life, not to walk away from a difficult situation, “If you threw the towel in now you would be doing yourself a big injustice” . Her punishment fits her initial crime, she and Holly were sick in the minibus on the way home from the pub and now they have to clean it up. On the eve of the dinner party the girls are informed there will be a division of la

It’s the third week of term at Eggleston Hall, at the end of which the ladettes will be tested to the limit. They have been invited, by leading society hostess Lady Apsley, to a day of swimming, champagne and fine dinning at one of the countries grandest and most notorious country houses ‘Cliveden’. But before the week even starts a departure throws the school off course. Under the cover of darkness, nightclub bouncer Kelly Simpson has fled. A difficult week followed by a harsh assessment proved too much for her. The week stumbles on and art teacher Susan Wilson opts for shock tactics in the hope of re-engaging the girls. The girls are to paint a male nude. They giggle their way through the class but all sense of purpose and focus has gone. With a grave situation and a vacancy at the school a decision is made to bring back old girl and Liverpudlian Louise Porter in the hope her arrival will reignite competition between the ladettes. Last year Louise was a a foul-mouthed, hard-drinking torrent of trouble, but she showed natural aptitude in class, and Gill Harboard was convinced she could change. The girls are not impressed with the new arrival. But the plan to instill competition in the wayward girls backfires, the old ladettes refuse to compete and instead turn to drink. Mrs Shrager catches them red handed and a show down follows. Nichole looses her temper and reveals that her anger stems from the death of her two brothers over 10 years ago. “I was a very messed up angry little girl” The punishment is harsh – P.E at 7 a.m. in the morning. All the girls have to take part but none of them apply themselves and all treat it as a joke. Mrs Shrager is pushed to breaking point. Tensions are at boiling point and the future of the term on a knife edge. Finally the stand off is broken when 27 year old Simone Webber crosses enemy lines and apologizes for the girls’ behavior. After the week from hell the Ladette’s now must face their most spect

It’s the fourth week of term at Eggleston hall and this week the Ladettes face their first ever public end of week task. They and the eligible bachelors have been invited by Lady Amber Leighton to attend a luncheon at an international polo match. One of them will also be required to present a prize and make a speech. If recent behaviour is anything to go by it could be an unmitigated disaster. After a tense start to the week, a lesson with bohemian art teacher Susan Wilson should be a perfect tonic but today they have to paint portraits of the School Principal. Unbeknown to the girls the one who shows the most potential will be sent on a date with a bachelor of her choice. Simone refuses to apply herself and gives Mrs Harboard a green face. Nicole wins and chooses to dine with the rakish Jonathan Saxby. Being the penultimate week competition between the girls is growing. A simple dressing down from Mrs Shrarger about their messy dorms results in a screaming match between rivals Louise and Nicole. Nicole’s date is a romantic triumph and Jonathan Saxby is genuinely impressed, “She oozed confidence tonight” and Nicole delighted in the glamour of the evening “It’s like being treated like a little princess you always dream of things like this”. The other ladettes who have been allowed down the pub are in a decidedly less sophisticated frame of mind. Binge drinking is the order of the night but 27 year old Simone Webber refuses to join in. “ I have been here 4 weeks now and during that 4 weeks I have realised a lot of things about myself and it’s beginning to frighten me a little bit because I have realised what a prick I have been over the years”. Cockney rebel Holly Clements is far from impressed with the new sober Simone and instead instigates drunken East End style knee’s up with the locals. On the girl’s late return, relations between drunken Holly and abstemious Simone flare up resulting in Mrs Harboard having to step in to stop a

It is now the final week at Eggleston Hall and with just three ladettes left, the competition is stronger than ever. There has been a huge transformation in the girls over the last five weeks and now that it is coming to the end they definitely feeling the pressure. The week will be one long test for the girls; at the end of which they will face the ultimate challenge: to ‘come out’ at their ‘Graduation Ceremony’. The ceremony will be based on the Queen Charlotte Ball started by King George III in the 18th Century, which was still one of the major events of the London calendar for debutantes in the 1950’s. The big difference for our ladettes is only one girl will emerge victorious. Dance is the first lesson of the week. The girls have to practice a waltz for the graduation ceremony and already Holly is throwing tantrums. In elocution the girls are told they will each have to make a 5 minute speech which strikes fear in the heart of Romford Rebel Nicole. On the eve before the graduation ceremony the girls join the teachers for supper and they reflect on what they will take away from the hall. One of the biggest revelation is for binge drinking tiny tearaway Holly who has finally realised that “I can have one or two and still be myself and enjoy myself without falling everywhere and making a plonker of myself I suppose”. The morning of the Graduation Ceremony finally arrives. Just like the debutants of the 1950’s; each girl much execute three elements with meticulous precision: a staircase walk; an audience with members of the aristocracy and a waltz. On top of that they have to perform their nerve-wracking speeches. The girls are pampered and preened all morning to achieve the Queen Charlotte Debutant look but Louise is not impressed with the results and throws a fit. The waltzes are a success and the moving and accomplished speeches leave most of the audience and staff in tears. Finally the teachers retire to decide who is to win the h

As the finishing touches are made in preparation to welcome the class of '08 at Eggleston Hall, expectation soon turns to dread. The teachers fear the worst when news arrives that the police have been called to the local airport following complaints of disruptive behaviour onboard.

With one disgraced ladette already on her way home, week two sees a chastened band of Aussie ladettes face up to a daunting challenge. They must play host to the prestigious Zetland Hunt. But it's not all sausage rolls and stirrup cups.

In week three, the "tough love" treatment produces some unexpected results. There are tears as the ladettes' emotional defences give way to storms of emotion. But the tables are turned when stripper Nicole tells the story of her troubled past and even stern Ms Harbord sheds a tear. But emotion must be put aside as the ladettes face their weekly challenge: to make and serve afternoon tea to the aristocratic mothers of some of the bachelors. There's much work to be done before the ladettes have a hope of passing muster under the critical eyes of these society ladies (and prospective mother-in-laws).

In episode four, the ladettes must cook haute cuisine for 20 society guests. But, when Skye is promoted to school prefect, cooking is the last thing on their minds. Furious that this honour has been given to the bad girl of the group, the others decide to make Skye's life hell.

Eggleston Hall Finishing School is preparing to entertain royalty for the first time in its history, and the teachers want their girls to make a good impression on the visiting prince — a dashing Italian from Venice. There's no margin for error when, after last week's appalling lapse in standards, Ms Harbord announces a zero-tolerance policy on bad behaviour. But, when the four surviving ladettes are forced to wear a body harness to improve their deportment, one of them decides that enough is enough. Tough mine-worker, Sarah has fought hard to earn her place as an equal in a man's world, and she's not about to curtsey to anyone — not even a prince. The show must go on, and the girls have just days to prepare for a wildly ambitious event — a masked ball in honour of their royal visitor. And, as if that weren't enough, the girls must also contend with some amorous bachelors who will be staying over the night of the ball. Whether it's the prospect of a genuine Italian prince or of the return of the now familiar bachelors, the sausage-making lesson provokes a very unladylike response in the girls.

Three girls have survived to the final week and have reached the climax of their journey where one winning lady will be chosen. The glamorous awards ceremony is to be hosted at one of Britain's finest country houses where the girls are expected to parade their newfound looks, elegance and good manners. The remaining contestants will have their parents flown to England to join them for the graduation ball.

In the season final catch up with the girls back in their home environments where they're surprised by a visit from the Headmistress Gill Harbord and cooking teacher Rosemary Schrager.

It’s the start of a new term at finishing school and the teachers and staff are preparing for the arrival of the new students - eight Australian ladettes. After the disgraceful arrival of last term’s Aussies the teachers are leaving nothing to chance. This time the vice-principal, Mrs Shrager, is waiting at the airport to chaperone the girls to the school premises under her supervision. It’s a bus ride she would rather forget.

It is the second week of term at Hereford Hall and after the appalling behaviour and expulsion of one of the ladettes the teachers are determined to instil manners and discipline into these brazen women.