Charlotte Mullen, a socially ambitious woman turns her small Irish village upside down by attempting to marry off her beautiful and flirtatious cousin to the local squire’s son.
Francie Fitzpatrick (Joanna Roth–“Sliding Doors”) is young, beautiful and she is about to become the pawn in a vicious game of betrayal and greed.
The vivacious teenager arrives in Ireland to live with her cousin, Charlotte (Jeananne Crowley–“Educating Rita”). Sombre and middle-aged, Charlotte is the epitome of everything sensible. However, her plain exterior masks a sly woman hungry for money and prestige. To her, Francie is just the thing to tempt the wealthy gentlemen of the country and gain her a foothold in their privileged world. When Francie falls in love with the wrong man, a furious Charlotte unleashes a devious scheme of revenge. 3 episodes.
Filmed entirely on location in Ireland, “The Real Charlotte” is based on the Victorian novel by Somerville and Ross, creators of “The Irish R.M.” Set in 1895.
Shown on PBS Masterpiece.
Starring Jeananne Crowley, Patrick Bergin, Joanna Roth, Robin McCallum, Nicholas Hewetson, Jemma Redgrave.
Note: I loved Jemma Redgrave (you may know her from the Victorian era period series [Bramwell](http://amzn.to/2t04QRw)) in this. Despite some real flaws in the storytelling, you may enjoy the TV mini-series: the settings are well-done, as is the upstairs-downstairs dynamic. There’s even a Wickham like character.