ENCOUNTERS

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Tales of the night

First shown on digital channel ITV Encore, Harlots has long deserved a bigger audience – and that now seems set to arrive, thanks to the BBC’s acquisition of the three-series drama. Set in Georgian London, it’s inspired by historian Hallie Rubenhold’s book about Covent Garden sex workers, The Covent Garden Ladies.

At its centre lies Margaret Wells (Samantha Morton), a woman trying to reconcile her role as a brothel madam with being a mother. If that weren’t tough) stars as Wells’s daughter, the courtesan Charlotte, while seasons two and three of the series find Liv Tyler joining the cast.