Original subtitles

Haha, that old crone went down like a drunk!

She'll be an Irish beauty this morning! Two black eyes.

-You little gobshite! -Enough!

[BABY WHIMPERS]

Remember you're on trial.

One more trip, and you're back at Cheapside.

[WINDOWS SMASH]

What's that?!

Is it angry culls?

[BABY CRIES]

That Quigley!

Did you see anything? Eh?!

MAN: No, Mrs, nothing.

Fanny, I need you to go and fetch Nancy.

Jacob, you're coming with me.

You two stay here. Clean this up.

-Yes. -Mind you don't cut yourselves. [BABY CRIES]

Or each other!

[BIRDSONG]

You are manna from heaven.

Perhaps forbidden fruit tastes sweeter.

My sister told you not to associate with me.

And yet...

you were determined to bed me.

One might assume the two are connected.

A bientot, Miss Wells.

You'll be returning?

To you, yes. To this chintz pit, never.

[ DOOR CLOSES]

[SHE SIGHS]

[SHE GROANS]

You didn't come to me last night.

Anticipation is half the joy.

You're teasing me, Lord Fallon.

[DOOR OPENS]

This is Miss Wells.

She will be your mistress.

You will treat her as if she were my wife.

[SHOUTING AND COMMOTION]

[SHE LAUGHS]

Hmm.

What about her?

No, no. Not Sally Perkins.

She's a beauty, but she's got the flap dragon.

What about her?

She has three meals a day, and they're all gin.

[EMILY SIGHS]

No, I mean the dark one! Cor, she's a diamond!

I thought we needed variation.

Do you know how many blonde blouses there are in Soho?

I just ride the pole better than any of 'em.

Don't let a little competition scare ya.

Bare knuckle fighters earn a king's ransom, you know that?

Where would you hold it, if I fought?

Right here.

Chalk circle for a sparring ring.

Land blows like you land buttock, and you might just win.

How much for a brush with Miss Lennox?

I'm not her pimp.

Well, come on then!

Come on, haha! Whoop!

Need you to mind him. There's been an attack on the house.

You've baited Quigley again.

She was at the Pleasure Gardens with Mrs May.

Called me "Little Maggie". That's why I hit her.

[HE SUPPRESSES LAUGHTER]

Well, she probably had it coming.

You stay close to your pa today.

What about you?

I heard you battered the old moth.

Bet she was fluttering all night, thinking about ways to chill ya.

This is just the start.

Mrs Quigley, your face!

Oh!

The marquess left satisfied, I trust?

He enjoyed me! [LYDIA CHUCKLES]

But not our surroundings.

It's like rutting in a dolls house.

I cannot stand another day here.

That Justice has my business in a chokehold.

All of London's corrupt, and he thinks he's different?

Perhaps we should test his virtue.

[BOTH LAUGH]

The court has been known to take funding from a variety of sources,

and endow it to worthy causes.

Hospitals, arms houses...

To what are you alluding?

We would like to support your endeavours.

Bribery is an illegal practice, Mrs Quigley.

You cannot keep me from my own home!

I am not. I am simply forbidding your

from operating within it. Good day!

That man is an impediment. We must make it our duty to remove him.

The marquess could eat him alive, if he wanted to.

Then we must make him want to.

Hunt cannot bar us from Golden Square

as long as we stay chaste within it.

Go back and gather the girls,

and send word to Abbadon to prepare the house.

I have business with this harridan.

[SHE CHUCKLES] I'd almost forgotten about you.

Leave me alone, Quigley!

You make my blood run cold.

I think probably that's the rags you're wearing.

Where are you living? Under a wagon?

Mrs Wells has shown us kindness and charity.

Virtues you know nothing of.

You're staying at Greek Street?

[SHE LAUGHS]

Mrs Wells will have you praying with your knees upward in no time!

I work for God alone!

You work for me when I tell you to!

Charlotte?

It was her, wasn't it?

The windows.

You be careful, cos your head is in the lion's mouth.

Why, if the blood running through it is Quigley's?

You're as reckless as I am.

That's why you'll always be a Wells woman.

She coming for me again?

She lets nothing slip.

-Do you have her trust? -I'm close.

You get inside her mind.

Like a madness.

I wanna know every sick notion she spits up.

You're our trojan horse, Charlotte.

And you're inside Troy's gates.

-I don't have an army! -Not yet.

But I'll gather one.

Now, you find a spark...

and I'll light it.

And we'll burn her to the ground.

[SHE GIGGLES]

[SHE LAUGHS]

[HE GASPS]

[HE SNORES]

Ah!

[HE LAUGHS]

There are people like you at the palace, you know.

-[COIN RATTLES] -The entertainment for royalty.

You're the only king I know of.

[King of Old Compton Street.]

[HE CHUCKLES] [HE GROWLS PLAYFULLY]

This house is just the beginning, you know.

You should see the finery of my mother's.

[DOOR OPENS] -My inheritance, of course.

Look what we found!

A new blackbird for our menagerie.

Long way from the docks.

Might finally wash the sailors brine out me gully!

Oh, isn't she comely?

She's sublime!

This is the sort of girl we should be recruiting.

Not that half-pint!

Why does a white wagtail want black whores?

Men come here for something different,

and pay a fine penny for it.

That's right. This is a house of exotics.

[BOTH GIGGLE]

Tighten you stays, and paint your faces, ladies.

-You're going a-hunting for cuffings. -Yes!

Morning.

-What have you been up to? - Oh!

I have been...

in the guts of a goddess.

The celestial Miss Wells.

What?

Well, you seemed so captivated by her.

I wanted to see what all the fuss was about.

-And did you? -Mmm.

Never met a harlot

who seems to enjoy the act as much as the money.

It's her job. Perhaps she's just good at it.

Why does it disturb you so?

Mmm?

Where are you going?

Isabella?

You seem to think I have some unnatural lust for Miss Wells.

Perhaps I should find out if you're right.

Your broken windows aren't my business.

Once you're on her list, you're never off.

Even if I end up dead, you're next.

Why should I do anything for you?

You nearly sent me to the sky yourself!

I never should have endangered you.

You were my best girl once.

I'm sorry.

Well, I'll be dicked.

An apology from Margaret Wells!

Go to the Justice.

Say what you know.

-[CHATTER] -What is this gaudy mob?

[LYDIA LAUGHS POLITELY]

Darling boy!

I see you've brought the whole zoo!

Not a zoo, Mother, but an aviary...

of rare and exotic delights.

Cherry here can flirt the fortune out of a miser's hand.

And how are you selling this foreign fowl?

Emily Lacey warned us about you.

She said you were a mildewed bloodsucker.

You won't make a penny in her house.

It's my house.

Then put your scold in her bridle.

If she smears or maligns me again, even to these jades,

I will make good my threat.

Am I clear?

Come on, my doves.

I could do things for you, Maypole.

Come and see me.

You must bite back.

Send your menfolk to tamper with the wheels of her coach.

[MARGARET CHUCKLES]

Mrs Scanwell, how un-Christian!

Business is our best defence.

There is no protection like a house full of rich men.

When I get 'em in,

don't you scare 'em away.

Why are you so shaken, Mother?

We must find a shield of our own against Quigley's evil.

That's it, tattle to your master!

[DOOR OPENS]

[GIGGLING AND CHATTER]

-Lady Isabella! -I came for a moment with Miss Wells.

Ah!

Miss Wells's time comes at a price.

-You promised. -He paid me 100 guineas.

Oh, I should have known. A harlot can always be bought.

My body, yes, but not my mind.

He takes everything that is mine, and makes it his!

I live in a chamber of mirrors,

-and his is the only reflection I see. -Then you must shatter it.

-I can't. -You can.

You locate a weakness... and you press.

Did you learn that from Mrs Quigley?

She's the only one I wish to break.

How can I help?

She wants me to get close with your brother again.

I understand.

Is there anything else you want?

-You've already paid. -I...

My brother's card party, tomorrow.

Two o'clock.

Bring the bitch.

There have been mutterings about you, Fallon.

That our vessel is leaking.

That you are the fissure.

I have righted any wrongs I may have caused.

A spartan does not blunder.

The High Priestess was endangered by a baying bawd.

But I have silenced her.

-How? -I have a hostage.

Her own daughter.

She is exquisite.

And totally in my thrall.

Miss Lucy Wells.

Lucy.

This is the Marquess of Blayne.

-Pleasure, my lord. -Madam.

Enjoy your evening.

Where are you going?

Out.

Well, Fallon.

She seems to be going out.

[DOOR CLOSES]

I've secured us an invitation to the marquess's gathering tomorrow.

Clever cat.

What was your son's girl doing here?

That's not for you to know.

There's only two things you could have wanted with her.

First, to join your house.

But she'd be a black swan in a white flock,

and I can't see that pleasing you.

Second...

You want eyes in Charles's house.

[SHE CHUCKLES]

Well, ponder this.

She rejected my proposition.

The gleam of Golden Square may have scared her off.

I'll take her some coins and tell her she's safe with us.

[LAUGHTER AND CHATTER]

Never seen so much powder in my life!

Well, the bigger the wig, the smaller the pintle!

Big or small, you stroke till they're gushing gold.

[HARPSICHORD PLAYS]

Let's go elsewhere.

Did you hear, Fallon?

Your keeper has spoken.

We're staying.

You will be the light that illuminates this room.

Ma. What you doing here?

You never come here.

Showing off my new girls.

There was an attack on the house this morning.

-We have to pay for new windows. -An attack?

Is anyone hurt?

All are safe.

And we won't be daunted.

You look like a queen.

And I am nothing but her loyal subject.

Lord Fallon.

Fallon has a minx in his house, who gives him orders like a major.

Go over and take a slice of her.

I want to see how the boy reacts.

My Lord, Fallon will not...

Fallon, I have friends for you to meet.

Are you Fallon's new pony?

Pray tell, are the rest of us going to be allowed a ride?

Sorry, my lord...

..but you couldn't afford a share in me.

I see I'm filling your eyes, my lord.

How about we fill those hands?

You're not my fancy.

Come now, my lord. You haven't even had a taste!

Come here, filly! I want to see what tricks you can do!

Do you need a rod to your hide?

Urgh!

[GLASSES SMASH] [OBJECTS CLATTER]

Damn you, Lidington! Keep your hands off her or I'll brand them myself!

Mrs Wells.

That man... his buttons are the same.

We need to see the Justice!

-He's asleep. -Well, wake him!

-What's so pressing? -What madness is this?!

It's the m-m-middle of the night!

Lord Lidington...

That's his name.

The man who murdered my girl.

He left his button in her hair.

The button I gave you!

You've done nothing about it.

Lord...Lidington.

Are you all right?

He doesn't scare me.

What does scare you?

Not tonight.

Why?

I want you to ache for me.

What does the devil want now?

I'm not here for Mrs Quigley.

Oh, you still have thoughts of your own?

-I'm not who you think I am! -Pretty little fuck puppet. -Emily!

I'm working against her.

If she finds that out...

she'll pull out your beef and spread it across Soho!

-That's why I need your help! -Help you?!

You wanna gamble your life on bad odds, go ahead.

But I got a house of me own, and girls to fill it.

Why would I risk all that?

She plots to tear it apart.

What do you mean?

Ask your girl.

The tall one.

Nell, get in here.

If I'm right...

Quigley sent for her and offered her money to spy on you.

Is it true?

She wanted me to seduce her son and drop poison in his ear.

-But I denied her. -Why?

Quigley can keep her money.

That old girl gives me the chills.

She'll never leave you alone.

Not till you're mad or dead.

[FOOTSTEPS RECEDE] [DOOR CLOSES]

So she gave you this house to tie your tongue?

I'm the only soul still breathing who knows her truth.

My knowledge pains her like a maggot in a wound.

She wants to cut me out.

You let me and my children move into a house built on sand!

No! No...

I'm gonna end it.

-I'm gonna make this house mine. -How?

I'm gonna send Dame Death to the gallows.

[BOTH GRUNT]

[LAUGHTER AND CHATTER]

You're a nasty, dirty, cunny rat!

-Your cock is a hungry fiend! -Filthier!

-Your balls are the devil's arms! -Filthier!

-Your mother was a thieving trollop! -FILTHIER!

[ HE GROANS]

I mean no offence...

but that was really, really expensive.

Well, I am...because I'm exotic.

You're not exotic to me!

-You're not getting a discount. -But you didn't enjoy it.

That's not what I'm paid for.

Let me pleasure you for free.

You can pretend that I'm whoever you want me to be.

[DOGS BARK]

You said you'd treat me as your wife.

But I'm not your wife. I'm your whore.

And you will treat me as such.

And how would you have me do that?

I see you're playing the courtesan.

Yes, Lucy is quite at ease here.

I assume that's why you've come.

To make certain of her comfort.

About the dispute last night...

It was nothing, Ma.

Lord Lidington...

Is that man a friend of yours, Lord Fallon?

Certainly not. He is a drunk and a fool.

I assure you, he'll never come near your daughter again.

You stay away from him.

I'm happy, Ma. Don't fret.

Let me show you out.

I don't remember you chasing Charlotte round like this.

You're different creatures.

What does that mean?

The way you went for that man, I fear for you.

Leave me alone, Ma.

[LAUGHTER AND CHATTER]

Your guests, Isabella?

I thought you'd be glad to see your whore.

Marquess, a pleasure.

We don't mean to rankle you.

We would be honoured to enter your games,

-if you will allow us. -We're playing Bestia.

Pertinent, given our beastly host.

Your proficiency at cards precedes you, Miss Wells.

You drained my sister of a significant sum, did you not?

Well, indeed. Miss Wells's deft hand will impress you no end!

Please.

You have an instinct for violence.

I can see that in you.

I want to show you how to use it.

Gioco.

You saw my sister last night,

and I saw yours.

What a strange dance we're all doing.

Gioco.

Why do you and your sister jostle like you do?

Well, the dynamic of a family is...

hard to explain.

How did you end up at Quigley's house

when your mother has one of her own?

Our family's dynamic is as inexplicable as yours.

Why do you not have a keeper?

My last one was killed.

-Understandably, it has put me off. -Of course.

MAN: It's your pot, Blayne!

When I bleed this rich room dry,

how about I push the profits your way?

Will you come and stay with me?

I would like to have you as mine, Miss Wells.

You have until the end of the game to decide.

MAN: Gioco.

Gioco.

Four cards.

A risk taker.

In battle, it is the cowards who run the most risk.

And bravery is a rampart of the defence.

You know your Roman philosophy.

I always preferred it to the Greek.

The Greeks invented rational thought!

Mmm.

But the Romans had a greater empire.

[BOTH CHUCKLE]

I don't believe we've been introduced.

Mrs Quigley is a bawd.

She's quite famous in her field, did you know that, my lord?

Lord Dodds is the Lord Chief Justice.

It seems to me so odd that a woman

of your beauty and breeding is not married.

Do you not long for children?

Ah, look! I win the trick!

[HE CHUCKLES]

Would you take a turn around the room with me, Mrs Quigley?

Are you trying to have me hanged?

-You are playing with fire! -And who lit the tinder?

Perhaps I'm tired of behaving.

Then perhaps I shall tire of keeping the secret of your bastard child!

And reveal how you've been fleecing me for years?

I wonder...

what penalty Lord Chief Justice would impose

for the crime of extortion.

I'll see the Justice.

Well played, sir.

So, have you made your decision?

About what?

I want to be Miss Wells's keeper.

It's an attractive offer...

but I value my freedom.

-600 a year. -Harcourt!

-You are being vulgar. -Vulgar?

You invited the brothel to the party.

-Very well. -[COINS SLIDE]

All that...to have you right now.

Show me to your rooms.

I now know why you revere our Latin forebears.

My lord?

They welcomed prostitutes without moral qualm.

Ah! [SHE CHUCKLES]

Lord Dodds, my home is a sanctuary for young ladies.

So it's discreet?

We could take a tour,

should it arouse your interest.

Miss Lacey cannot be seen here!

Her life is precariously balanced.

I have issues to settle here in court.

Her story concerns Lydia Quigley.

I am sick of hearing that woman's name.

[SHE SIGHS]

I have also been a victim of her crimes.

I...I urge you, Justice.

Come with me.

She said there was a pack of hounds coming for me.

Do you know who they were?

Just that once they took me, I wasn't coming back.

Is it enough?

I need your assurance that you will stand up in a court of law,

and give evidence publicly against Lydia Quigley.

Do I have your word?

You do.

You do.

-[SHE GIGGLES] -Yes!

Ah!

Good evening, constables.

[ DOG BARKS]

[DOOR CLOSES]

Let me introduce you to Miss Anne Pettifer.

Sharp as a tac, but sweet as a peach.

A pleasure to meet you, my lord.

I mean no offence to Miss Pettifer,

but I see no woman in this room who is superior to you, Mrs Quigley.

Oh.

I prefer...

a riper fruit.

-Oh! -[GIGGLES NERVOUSLY ]

Again.

Ah!

Very good!

[SHE CHUCKLES]

Uh!

More aggressive.

[BLADE SWIPES] Uh!

[SHE GIGGLES]

I haven't done this for quite some time.

We can be as slow you like.

[SHE LAUGHS]

Urgh!

[BOTH LAUGH]

Fuck me.

Now!

[SWORD CLATTERS]

Urgh!

Ah!

[BOTH GASP ]

-Urgh! -Oh!

-Urgh! -Oh, Justice!

-Urgh! Tally-ho, Mrs Quigley! Tally-ho! -Oh, oh!

[THUMPS ON DOOR]

Oh!

[SHE GASPS]

Miss Lydia Quigley, you are under arrest for... Get out!

Never in my life have I...

We have a w-w-warrant for Mrs Quigley's arrest, sir.

Clear the flesh markets of Covent Garden,

strip the streets of vice and pox, close the slum brothels,

but these bawdy houses are our bawdy houses,

and you will not take our whores!

-I am sorry, Lord Dodds, but this arrest is not f-f-f.... -Be gone.

Or I will boot you from the law courts, and into the Thames.

[SHE LAUGHS]

-Urgh! -Oh! [HE LAUGHS]

Doddy!

-Charlotte. - Don't fear, he spent all his anger on me.

-Stay a moment. -I need a drink.

I'll accompany you.

-You don't wanna go where I'm going. -Where?

Home.

-Where's Quigley? -It is no use.

-What happened? -She is like a weed.

Cut her down and she grows back stronger.

What do you mean?

She has the Lord Chief Justice between her thighs.

You've got a spark in your throat tonight.

I'll either be free or dead tomorrow.

Either way a sore head won't matter.

Come on!

Nance, put your money on Webster.

He's a cub.

Could be a lion.

Haven't seen you like this for years.

Ladies and gentlemen, may I have your attention, please?

You are about to witness

a clash of fabled fighters!

[CHEERING]

-Billy 'The Butcher' O'Riley! -[CHEERING]

-Noah 'Stone' Webster! -[CHEERING]

Place your bets now!

3, 2, 1...

Fight!

[SHOUTING AND CHEERING ]

Place your bets!

She's eluded us this time.

The Justice failed.

But we're your sisters in arms now.

And I won't let any harm come to you.

[SHE CHUCKLES]

What a sad sight.

Is there no business for you in Lilliput?

Your son's doxy plans to sell you to the Justice.

-How do you know? -Heard her myself.

Why have you come to tell me this?

You chose the wrong girl for your spy.

I think the world of your son.

And he takes delight in me.

I will prise them apart like a wishbone.

[SHOUTING AND CHEERING ]

We each have our own boiling rage against her.

We cannot let it fog our sight.

But we need to fight like her.

-Cold-hearted? -Calculated.

We strike once... and we strike right.

We're a five-headed beast now.

You just tell us when to roar.

Champion!

[CHEERING]

Subtitles by TVT