This ITV/Masterpiece series is now in its second season, and has already been booked for a third. Based – loosely – on the life of Harry Selfridge, an American businessman who built the very successful Selfridge & Co., a British department store. Mr. Selfridge had developed his expertise in this industry from his time at Marshall Field department store in Chicago, where he rose from stockboy to junior partner. After that, he founded his own store in Chicago, and shortly thereafter went to London to establish an American-style department store there.
Selfridge’s was a new kind of store to the British, allowing customers to see goods on display and examine them before buying, an idea that was radical in London in 1909. It was a huge hit, and also became known for its now-well repeated slogan: “The customer is always right.” Mr. Selfridge was also something of a showman, hosting exhibits that would attract customers, such a demonstration of the new technology of television in 1925.
The series focuses less on the store, and more on Mr. Selfridge, his wife and a number of employees – many of whom are composites or entirely fictional – who work there. Like “Downtown Abbey” at its finest, “Mr. Selfridge” is guilty of soap-operate drama, and often having rather tortured story lines where everyone panics and then ends up happy before the end of the hour-long episode. That said, the costuming and historical details are a delight to watch, and in particular the second season gives an interesting perspective on life in London at the beginning of the
First World War. That war, often lingering in the shadow of World War II (both in history books and in PBS miniseries), was truly the Great War of its time, and it shows as the characters of “Mr. Selfridge” confront the war at home.
In short, “Mr. Selfridge” isn’t the greatest of British miniseries, but it’s an interesting and enjoyable diversion – Masterpiece Theater at its best.
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