Ladette to Lady

The second series of Ladette to Lady was aired in the United Kingdom in October 2006 on ITV. The show had viewing figures of 4.45 million to 5.41 million, winning its timeslot each week.[1] A third series followed in 2008, although it was originally planned to air in 2007.

Ladette to Lady was cancelled by ITV on 11 April 2008, but returned in June 2009, featuring Australian, rather than British, ladettes. The series featured the original staff and school.

Ladette to Lady returned on ITV for Series 5 on 20 July 2010. The series saw the return of the familiar staff. However, instead of Eggleston Hall, where all the other series have been featured, this series is based in Hereford Hall.[2]

The series has been parodied on The Charlotte Church Show as Lady to Ladette, in which, conversely, prim and proper girls are taught by Church and some of her raucous friends to behave in a more ladette-like manner.

The series follows a group of ladettes, who are given an old-fashioned five-week course in learning how to behave like a traditional "lady". They are sent to Eggleston Hall, a finishing school for women in Teesdale, which was specially reopened for the show. In the first series, there were ten ladettes, while the second series featured eight ladettes.

Whilst on the premises they are required to wear the school's uniform: a turquoise tweed suit, a white blouse, court shoes, and a pearl necklace. This uniform has varied. They are taught under the supervision and guidance of five instructors and are given various tasks in deportment, elocution, flower arranging, etiquette and cookery. Other skills include needlework, ballroom dancing, riding side-saddle, drawing, and so on. However, if they can't live up to the standards of ladylike behaviour, they will be expelled. One participant is expelled at the end of each episode, so by the end of the programme there will only be three left. Then the teachers must decide upon one winner, depending on who they think has improved the most and how they performed in the final challenge. However, all three finalists receive an Eggleston Hall diploma.

The teachers at Eggleston Hall run a very strict routine and are extremely well experienced in their particular subjects. The teachers who taught the ladettes at Eggleston Hall were:

• Gill Harbord - Principal series 2-5, floristry teacher
• Elizabeth Brewer - Etiquette and social protocol teacher
• Kate Forester - Elocution teacher series 1-2, 4-5
• Rosemary Shrager - Vice Principal and cookery teacher
• Vanessa Hooper - Dance teacher
• Lady Elizabeth Devenport - Deportment teacher series 4-5

Several months after series two of Ladette to Lady, all of the ladettes from both series one and series two were invited back to Eggleston Hall, along with teachers Gill Harbord, Rosemary Shrager and Liz Brewer, in order to see how the ladettes had changed and how they had progressed in their lives.

During the End of Term Report we saw Clare Randall, who, during series one was a regular and heavy drinker. In the more recent gathering she revealed that she had had a baby, totally reformed her life and quit drinking alcohol altogether. There was also Michelle King from series one, who as a result of the teachings of Eggleston Hall, has become more feminine and has been able to progress further in her life with more confidence. However, there were those who had not improved. To the surprise of the teachers, winner of series two, Victoria Jenkins, still had her old job and had not progressed with her studies.

The ladettes' final challenge was to be presented as debutantes to their parents, to make a speech and to dance the waltz. They were required to answer questions from select aristocrats.

The overall winner of Ladette to Lady 2008 was Nicole Elouise Hart, who reacquired her love of horses. All the contestants were given lessons in riding side-saddle; she excelled at this and was offered the opportunity to compete, after the conclusion of the series. She later went to Cairns to promote the Australian series and was used in the introduction shots.

Also notable was the reintroduction of Series Two contestant Louise Porter, who in the interim had begun a career as a glamour model.

Series Five premiered on 20 July 2010 on ITV (except STV, where it premiered on 17 August 2010). Like Series Four, this series again features ladettes from Australia. The setting was moved from Eggleston Hall in North East England to "Hereford Hall" near Wales. Hereford Hall was a country house hired specifically for the show and not a functioning school, although that is how it was presented in the show.[5]

• Series 5 was aired 17 August 2010 – 21 September 2010 in STV region

The series has also been broadcast in the United States on the Sundance Channel, in Australia on both The LifeStyle Channel and the Nine Network (Series 2 and 3, after Series 3 finished showing on the Nine Network, it aired one episode of Bad Lads Army the following week before cancelling it and showing Season 1 of Ladette to Lady) as well as the ABC (Series 1), New Zealand on Prime, Sweden on Kanal 5, Poland on TVN, Denmark on TV2 Zulu, Israel on Channel 8, the Netherlands on RTL5, Canada on Cosmopolitan TV, Estonia on Kanal 11 and Kanal 2, Belgium on Vitaya and Norway on NRK1 and NRK3.

The Ladette to Lady format has been adapted for other national versions around the world.

  Currently in production

  Currently not in production

Country		Name of series	Network	Seasons & winners	Number of episodes
	Australia	Aussie Ladette to Lady	Nine Network ITV (season 2)	Season 1 (2009): Nicole Mitchell Season 2 (2009): Donnelle Goemans	13
	Netherlands	Dames in de Dop	RTL 5	Season 1 (2007): Anna Jonckers Season 2 (2008): Michella Koxs Season 3 (2011): Meron van der Schaar	62
	Poland	Projekt Lady	TVN	Season 1 (2016): Patrycja Wieja Season 2 (2017): Roksana Gac Season 3 (2018): Magdalena Lubacz Season 4 (2019): Liubov Miruk Season 5 (2020): Dagmara Czerwińska Season 6 (2021): Agata Łabuda	69
	Russia	Patsanki	Friday!	Season 1 (2016): Yulia Kovaleva Season 2 (2017): Tatiana Buraya Season 3 (2018): Anna Gorokhova Season 4 (2019): Diana Chragyan Season 5 (2020): Anastasia Petrova Season 6 (2021): Tatiana Kashirina Season 7 (2022): Kira Medvedeva	82
	Ukraine	Vid patsanki do panyanki	1+1	Season 1 (2010): Yulia Balayeva Season 2 (2011): Lydia Yunasheva	22
		Vid patsanki do panyanki	Novyi Kanal	Season 1 (2016): Galina Poludnevich Season 2 (2017): Anna Savinets Season 3 (2018): Yana Kovalska Season 4 (2020): Yevhenia Mazur Season 5 (2021): Valeriya Tkachenko	69
		Patsanki Nove Zhittya		Season 1 (2017): Irina Slyunko Season 2 (2018): Galina Poludnevich	48

• The Girls of Hedsor Hall
• From G's to Gents

• Ladette to Lady at IMDb
• Ladette to Lady at UKGameshows.com