The House of Eliott

- Season 3

(1994)

January, 1927: The sisters return from their successful American trip with Madge, who feels alienated from her husband after sampling Stateside life. Alice has gone to work for Maison Gille but is replaced by a client's daughter, Jess, who asks Evie and Bea to her birthday party. Jack is also invited but fails to show and nobody knows where he is. Grace Keeble, a talented designer, approaches the house and, after starting off on the wrong foot, is taken on as an apprentice designer. Donald, a director of Sears-Roebuck, arrives to date Bea and Evie goes out with Larry ...

Bea and Jack argue over his not seeing her off to America and she returns to Donald. Evie agrees to go into business with Larry Cotter making ready-to-wear clothes and signs a contract. She also meets Miles, a friend of Grace who is a talented illustrator and whom she employs at the house. The staff are having personal problems as the arrival of Madge's unemployed brother Albert causes a further rift in her marriage and Betty's husband is accused of manslaughter. Jack and Bea get back together after he has asked her opinion on his latest script but before they can ...

Betty's husband stands trial for manslaughter. Grace feels under-valued and makes some changes to a fashion show behind Evie's back but the pair are reconciled as the Aurora Collection, the sisters' collaboration with Cotter, is unveiled. Katya's grandfather dies in his sleep and Katya is taken on at the house. There is some racial resentment and she is accused by the other girls when Tilly's purse is stolen but apologies are offered when the real culprit is found. Jack gets Albert building work but he is injured and returns home to recuperate. Evie turns down Miles's...

Despite the Aurora collection's success the staff's personal lives are taking a knock. Madge realises that Charles's girlfriend, over whom he waxes so lyrically, has left him and her own marriage is heading for the rocks whilst Betty's husband is in prison, and she is struggling to make ends meet. Tilly has a baby boy and though she is keeping her pregnancy secret it brings out Bea's maternal instincts. When the baby dies Bea realises more than ever that she wants to have her child. Meanwhile Evie and Danioel cause tongues to wag.

Whilst Tilly grows distant and depressed following her child's death Bea and Jack go public over their forthcoming birth and buy a larger house. After Jack is arrested as a communist following a demonstration, he is commissioned to write a series of articles on safety at the work-place and travels to Glasgow to begin his research. Daniel turns down an offer of a trip to America to be with Evie whilst Charles shares an innocent date with Madge. The warehouse containing the Aurora collection is the subject of a mysterious fire, with much of the stock being destroyed. ...

Evie and Daniel, now a couple, attend a function given by Lady Romford, though Daniel feels ill at ease in high society, and only agrees to Lady Romford's request to paint her portrait after encouragement from Bea. When Lady Romford dislikes the finished result - largely because Daniel resisted her advances - Bea and Evie fall out. Jack, however, on the strength of his crusading articles, is invited to join the Labour party. Madge finally leaves her husband to live with Charles after a public scene. The new collection is premiered, despite the obstacle of the fire, ...

The sisters are shocked to find shops full of the Crystal Collection, a poor copy of the Aurora Collection. Larry Cotter, Grace and Betty are apparently responsible. The clothes in the Aurora Collection are stored at the House of Eliott but they are almost impossible to sell, even at vastly reduced prices. To make matters worse the sisters are confronted by the seamstresses who made the Crystal Collection, demanding their wages, even though the defaulters are Jack and Grace. Publicity gets out which also harms Jack's reputation in the light of his article on fair pay....

Betty explains that financial need forced her to abet Grace and Larry, who tricked her, but, in exchange for keeping her job, she helps the sisters trap the guilty pair as they attempt to sell the Crystal Collection to another store. Bea exposes the couple in the press, thus exonerating the House of Eliott as they sell the Aurora Collection to America. Miles is taken on to replace Grace at the house. Jack considers running for parliament and Tilly decides to accept her child's death and move on whilst Agnes is encouraged in her desire to be a professional singer by ...

Jack is selected as a Labour Party candidate for the Newford constituency. Agnes's singing career flourishes when she meets an impresario and Madge is made manageress of the house's Bayswater work-shop. Tilly visits elderly Lady Westlake to fit her for a new dress. They get on well but Tilly is shocked to find the old lady covered in bruises. It transpires that her maid and her daughter ill-treat her but, as a result of her discovery, Tilly is invited to become Lady Westlake's companion and Norman her handyman, with a house to go with the job. Charles gives Madge a ...

The new collection, displayed in a film studio with designs by Daniel, is a success, as is Agnes's debut at the Hackney Empire. Jack stands as a Labour MP against the long-standing member John Crowborough, who employs dirty tricks to discredit his rival. However it comes to light that Crowborough himself is a fraudster and a liar and Jack wins the election after exposing Crowborough to the press. This has a knock-on effect for Tilly as Crowborough is Lady Westlake's son-in-law and the resultant scandal leads to the family seat being sold to recover debts. Lady ...