So, on the presumption that you  done all your duties for today and have  either  queued up at the Estate Office to  pay your rent to your landlord, or have settled with the agent that you are to take Netherfield after all, depending on your whim…..it’s time for a little catching up re Amanda Vickery’s doings.

Throughout the summer she has been entertaining us on Twitter with snippets of information of the filming of Behind Closed Doors for the BBC, which has now been completed (above is the clapper board which was given to Amanda by the film crew as a present at the end of filming).Those of us who follow her on Twitter have virtually followed her to Ditcheley Park, designed by James Gibbs in the 1720s, shown below….

(© Adam Middleton and The Ditchely Foundation)

…where a lot of the filming has taken place, and also at

less grand surroundings such as houses in Spitalfields, above, and

the  Almshouses at the Geffreye Museum;as Professor Vickery noted, it was neat but frugal.

We have also met some of the actors playing the real life characters in the book, and discovered that, for actresses playing period women’s roles, The Gentleman’s Daughter also written by Professor Vickery has become an essential part of their research,a handbook to explain the lives their characters would have led in the late 18th /early 19th century. I’m glad about this as for years I have described it as required reading for anyone who wants to know more about  the background to the female characters in Jane Austen’s works. It’s nice to know that professional actresses agree!

Professor Vickery and I have been jealously coveting some of the hats on display…….

Do look at this fabulous creation worn by “Lady Margaret Stanley” seen with Professor Vickery in modern garb, above……It’s been great fun keeping up with it all. So do join Professor Vickery on Twitter  for as the broadcasting date nears there will be more snippets of information being bandied about I’m sure. At the moment there is a  debate at the production company as to want to call the series; Behind Close Doors sounds fine to me but an official alternative suggestion has been put forward , The Georgians An Intimate History…I confess I’m not keen on that one. Why not let Professor Vickery have your thoughts on the subject via Twitter?  No dates as yet from Professor Vickery as to when the series is to be broadcast but I promise to let you know the moment I’m made aware of them.

On to publishing.

Yale, whose London office are shown above, in a photograph taken by Professor Vickery while filming Behind Closed Doors, -and I would like to thank her for permission to use all these images- have now issued a paperback edition of  Behind Closed Doors in the UK (the USA paperback edition is to follow soon I understand)

This is a bargain. If you were wary of buying the full price hardback book, then  please do buy this version. It is a great read as well as being very informative. My review  accessible here might persuade you if you are wavering.

Professor Vickery is also to give the 2010 Royal Historical Society/Gresham College Annual Lecture on 11th November at Gresham College in London, entitled, What Did Eighteenth Century Men Want?, which promises to be fascinating. It may be made available as a podcast, and if so I will of course alert you all. In the meantime, here is another of Professor Vickery’s talks and this is one which IS available as a podcast now: go here to download her talking about  the role of the home in the long 18th century. Her talk is entitled Out of the Closet: Love, Power and Houses in Eighteenth Century England. You will enjoy it I’m sure.

I’ll post again when details of the broadcasting times for Behind Closed Doors are available and I will also be  reporting back soon from the exhibition curated by Professor John Styles, Professor Vickery’s husband, entitled Threads of Feeling which will open soon at the Foundling Hospital Museum in London.