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Lillie Season 1 Episodes
Season 1 Episode Guide
13 Episodes 1978 - 1978
Episode 1
Emilie
51 mins
Beautiful Emilie Le Breton, parson's daughter on the Isle of Jersey, is only 15 years old and a tomboy. Lillie's mother arranges a brief London visit to show Lillie a Season, but she is too shy and innocent to enjoy it. She falls in love with a local fisherman but her father forbids her to see him again. Determined to marry a wealthy man, she encourages Edward Langtry to court her.
Episode 2
Mrs. Langtry
53 mins
Lillie discovers Edward is financially strapped, not the millionaire she thought. Lillie develops typhoid fever, and convinces the doctor to tell Edward she needs to go to London to recover. Lillie loves London, but bad news takes her back to Jersey. Edward joins a London club, which draws him further apart from Lillie. Lillie finally crashes society to a thunderous reception.
Episode 3
The Jersey Lily
51 mins
After several months, Lillie is finally beginning to receive invitations for dinners and other social occasions. Her husband Edward doesn't see the point of it all but goes along to make her happy. Soon she becomes the toast of London and is much in demand by portrait painters. She also develops a close friendship with Oscar Wilde who comes to adore her. After one particularly good portrait of her is unveiled, she is dubbed the Jersey Lily. There seems to be no end to her list of admirers, which include Lord Randolph Churchill and Princess Louise, and is even presented to Leopold, King of the Belgians.
Episode 4
The New Helen
51 mins
The King of the Belgians pursues Lillie with great fervor and although she refuses his advances, all of London society is aware of his attempts. Fortunately for Lillie, he's seen as an old fool and everyone sympathizes with her plight. She continues to make conquests and is still much in demand by society hostesses. For her friend Oscar Wilde, she is his muse and he has produced a new book of poetry in her honor. She is taken aback however when he suggests to her that her most recent round of social invitations have all been by close friends to the Prince of Wales and that she is in effect being vetted. Soon after, she and her husband are invited to dinner where she is formally introduced to the Prince.
Episode 5
Bertie
51 mins
As Lillie acquires more admirers, her old friends see less of her and her husband sinks deeper into alcohol. Lillie is resigned to her popularity vanishing when the Season ends. She plans to leave Edward when the Prince of Wales dangles an irresistible lure in front of her.
Episode 6
Let Them Say
52 mins
Bertie remains smitten with Lillie and even builds her a seaside house. When visiting Crown Prince Rudolph is so smitten with Lillie that he ignores his social duties, Bertie arranges Lillie to be presented to the Queen, and Lillie acquires a new lover.
Episode 7
The Sailor Prince
51 mins
A scandal sheet trumpets a rumored Langtry divorce, and Edward is unable to collect his Irish rents. Lillie makes a new friend: W.E. Gladstone. Edward files suit against the scandal sheet and sends the publisher to prison. Lillie has fallen in love with her latest conquest, Prince Louis of Battenberg. Dean Le Breton is dismissed from his parish for sexual misconduct. Lillie receives some astonishing news.
Episode 8
Going on the Stage
53 mins
Lillie is pregnant and flat out broke. She sells her possessions and moves back to Jersey and the Prince of Wales arranges for a loan of £2000. She goes to Paris where she gives birth to a baby girl, but she tells everyone she's taken in her niece. Bertie decides not to tell Prince Louis of the birth. Edward Langtry is in poor condition, drunk most of the time and resists giving Lillie a divorce. She decides to pursue a career on the stage and her first performance is a success. Her second performance, at the Haymarket Theater in the West End is a resounding success. She then plans a tour in the United States.
Episode 9
America
52 mins
Lillie stages an American tour, marred by hostile American critics and newspaper accusations of an illicit romance with American millionaire Freddie Gebhard. Returning to England leads to stage triumphs and problems with creditors, and a visit from Freddie with an intriguing suggestion.
Episode 10
Home on the Range
52 mins
Lillie returns to America, not for the first time, for another successful tour. She hires Freddie's financial advisor, Abe Hummel as her lawyer and financial advisor but drives a hard bargain in the process. She seriously considers Freddie's suggestion that she become an American citizen so as to obtain a divorce from Edward in an American court. She buys land north of San Francisco to start a ranch. She also gets an admirer in Judge Roy Bean. She does become a citizen but opts to give Edward one more chance to give her a divorce. She's concerned that should she choose to divorce him, he may reveal the secret of her daughter. Freddie is not pleased with the delay. She returns to England but when news reports in the U.S. suggests Lillie is ill and on her death bed, Freddie rushes to London to find her being entertained by Bertie. He's rude to future King and refuses to apologize. She also meets Squire Abington, a man who takes what he wants.
Episode 11
Mr. Jersey
52 mins
Lillie's affair with a rich jockey who enjoys shocking society worries Patsy, as Squire Abington has a history of abusing women. He wants to marry Lillie, but Edward still refuses to divorce her. Lillie doesn't break with Squire even after he beats her, but she collects money and gifts. Lillie starts racing the horses Squire gave her. Oscar Wilde is arrested for sodomy, convicted, and imprisoned. Lillie finally gets her American divorce and Edward is committed to a psychiatric hospital.
Episode 12
Sunset and Evening Star
50 mins
Lillie's jewels are stolen from the bank, and Lillie goes back on stage to raise money. Lillie marries Hugo de Bathe, 20 years her junior, but can't keep him faithful. Lillie rebuilds an old theatre, which she renamed the Imperial. Ian Malcolm wants to marry Jeanne Marie even though the family won't accept Lillie. After Ian tells Jeanne her father was Prince Louis, she is so angry at her mother's deceptions that Jeanne refuses to see Lillie again.
Episode 13
Fifty Cents a Dance
53 mins
Lillie grieves over Bertie's death. Jeanne still holds the past against Lillie and refuses to see her. Prince Louis asks Jeanne to forgive him and Lillie. In New York, Lillie patronizes a dance hall where she pays for partners and winds up in an altercation with another patroness. Lillie organizes a benefit show in support of British forces. After WWI ends, Lillie moves to the French Riviera. Jeanne's son Victor reconciles his mother and Lillie.
