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Let Them Eat Cake (TV series)
Encyclopedia
Let Them Eat Cake is a British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
sitcom
Situation comedy
A situation comedy, often shortened to sitcom, is a genre of comedy that features characters sharing the same common environment, such as a home or workplace, accompanied with jokes as part of the dialogue...
that aired on BBC One
BBC One
BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...
in 1999. Starring Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders
Jennifer Saunders
Jennifer Jane Saunders is an English comedienne, screenwriter, singer and actress. She has won two BAFTAs, an International Emmy Award, a British Comedy Award, a Rose d'Or Light Entertainment Festival Award, two Writers' Guild of Great Britain Awards, and a Peoples Choice Award.She first came into...
, it is one of the few programmes in which French and Saunders
French & Saunders
French and Saunders is a British sketch comedy television show written by and starring comic duo Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders. It is also the name by which the performers are known on the occasions when they appear elsewhere as a double act....
have appeared which they did not create themselves.
Plot
It is 1782, seven years before the French RevolutionFrench Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
. The most reviled woman in France is the ambitious and immoral Colombine, Comtesse de Vache, who stalks the halls of the Palace of Versailles
Palace of Versailles
The Palace of Versailles , or simply Versailles, is a royal château in Versailles in the Île-de-France region of France. In French it is the Château de Versailles....
, spreading terror into the hearts of her fellow aristocrats by gathering their darkest and most intimate secrets. Her loyal maid is the nymphomaniacal, former prostitute Lisette and her acid-tongued manservant is Bouffant. Colombine's constant rival is Madame de Plonge, along with her naive yet sharp-witted daughter, Eveline.
Cast
- Jennifer SaundersJennifer SaundersJennifer Jane Saunders is an English comedienne, screenwriter, singer and actress. She has won two BAFTAs, an International Emmy Award, a British Comedy Award, a Rose d'Or Light Entertainment Festival Award, two Writers' Guild of Great Britain Awards, and a Peoples Choice Award.She first came into...
- Colombine, Comtesse de Vache - Dawn French - Lisette
- Adrian ScarboroughAdrian ScarboroughAdrian Philip Scarborough is an English character actor and won an Olivier award for best actor in a supporting role in 2011.Scarborough was born in Melton Mowbray, and trained at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, winning the Chesterton Award for Best Actor.In 1993, he was nominated for the Ian...
- Bouffant - Alison SteadmanAlison SteadmanAlison Steadman OBE is an English actress. She established her career with roles such as Beverley in Abigail's Party and Candice Marie in Nuts in May for the director Mike Leigh, to whom she was once married. In addition to her stage and radio work, she has had lead roles in The Singing Detective,...
- Madame de Plonge - Lucy PunchLucy PunchLucy Punch is an English actress. Her credits include the television shows Doc Martin and The Class, and the films Hot Fuzz and Bad Teacher.-Life and career:...
- Eveline de Plonge - Elizabeth Berrington - Marie AntoinetteMarie AntoinetteMarie Antoinette ; 2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793) was an Archduchess of Austria and the Queen of France and of Navarre. She was the fifteenth and penultimate child of Holy Roman Empress Maria Theresa and Holy Roman Emperor Francis I....
- Julian Rhind-TuttJulian Rhind-TuttJulian Alistair Rhind-Tutt is an English actor. He is best known for his starring role as "Mac" McCartney in the comedy television series Green Wing, the second series of which finished on Channel 4 in May 2006...
- Marie Antoinette's Adviser
Episodes
| Title | Airdate | Overview |
|---|---|---|
| The Pox | 9 September 1999 | Madame de Plonge tries to humiliate the Comtesse de Vache by convincing her to seduce one of her lovers. Meanwhile, the Comte de Vache has contracted the pox and wishes to end his life pressed against Colombine's bosom. |
| Murder | 16 September 1999 | Colombine loses a bet against the Marquise de Fufu and is arrested after the Marquise is found brutally murdered in her apartment. |
| The Portrait | 23 September 1999 | The Marquis de Sade Marquis de Sade Donatien Alphonse François, Marquis de Sade was a French aristocrat, revolutionary politician, philosopher, and writer famous for his libertine sexuality and lifestyle... has escaped from the Bastille Bastille The Bastille was a fortress in Paris, known formally as the Bastille Saint-Antoine. It played an important role in the internal conflicts of France and for most of its history was used as a state prison by the kings of France. The Bastille was built in response to the English threat to the city of... and it seems that Colombine has become a favoured victim of his depravities. Meanwhile, a famous artist wants to paint Colombine. Guest starring Richard E. Grant Richard E. Grant Richard E. Grant is a Swaziland-born British actor, screenwriter and director. His most notable role came in the film Withnail and I. He holds dual British and Swazi citizenship.-Early life:... and Maggie Steed Maggie Steed Maggie Steed is an English actress and comedienne.-Youth:After studying drama at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School in Bristol, she left the theatre for several years.-Career:... . |
| Making Voopee | 30 September 1999 | Colombine believes herself to be pregnant and thinks the King Louis XVI of France Louis XVI was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and Navarre until 1791, and then as King of the French from 1791 to 1792, before being executed in 1793.... to be the father. She then conspires to do away with the King's legitimate son so that her own will become heir to the throne of France France The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France... . |
| A Marriage of Convenience | 7 October 1999 | A Duke is offering a vast sum to anyone who can provide him with a "show wife," which he needs to appear to be one of the lads. Colombine tries to enlist her estranged sister, Cecille (played by Kathy Burke Kathy Burke Katherine Lucy Bridget Burke is an English actress, comedienne, playwright and theatre director. She is best known for her portrayals of Perry in the Harry Enfield film Kevin and Perry Go Large, and of Linda La Hughes in the British sitcom Gimme Gimme Gimme... ), for the job. |
| The Royal Command Performance | 14 October 1999 | The King Louis XVI of France Louis XVI was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and Navarre until 1791, and then as King of the French from 1791 to 1792, before being executed in 1793.... and Queen Marie Antoinette Marie Antoinette ; 2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793) was an Archduchess of Austria and the Queen of France and of Navarre. She was the fifteenth and penultimate child of Holy Roman Empress Maria Theresa and Holy Roman Emperor Francis I.... have decided to hold a Royal Command Performance Royal Variety Performance The Royal Variety Performance is a gala evening held annually in the United Kingdom, which is attended by senior members of the British Royal Family, usually the reigning monarch. In more recent years Queen Elizabeth II and The Prince of Wales have alternately attended the performance... , consisting basically of them copulating, and Colombine does her best to outshine her nemesis, Madame de Plonge. |