Have You Watched Mr. Selfridge?
Have I told you before about Mr. Selfridge, the TV series?
Surprisingly it seems that I never did!
If you are like me, a person with high regards to all things historical and cannot stop wondering how daily life used to unfold in a bygone era of the past, and/or you love the department store Selfridges -its my favourite department store, ever!-, and you are bored with whatever is shown on TV these days then you might one to check Mr. Selfridge out, for its one absolutely delicious show to get hooked on.
I don’t know why I never mentioned this before, but as of last year and after I watched the first episode of season one, I was smitten. Mr. Selfridge follows the events of the real life of Mr. Harry Gordon Selfridge, the American businessman who came to England once and was so appalled by the stiff service he received one day while shopping, he decided to change the way people shopped by opening his own revolutionary store in England. You get to ride back in time and enjoy Selfridge’s journey, from being financed and built to assigning employes, the opening, the unique customers experience provided in store, all entertwined with the juicy drama of the characters themselves.
The show is really good, the acting is spot on, the way people dressed, the ideas, the energy of being on something new and creative, and Did you know that Mr. Selfridge is the one who came up with the phrase “The Customer is Always Right?” I wonder how it would have been, shopping at Selfridges with Mr. Selfridge himself watching over the daily works of the store. I want to dine at the Palm restaurant, which was destroyed in the war, or at least go to where it used to be located before it closed down forever. I am lucky to have dined at the rooftop of Selfridges in 2012, which was reopened for the first time after Mr. Selfridge closed it down decades ago and had indeed both a restaurant and a golf course. Ah well, if only the department store Selfridges would take eager Mr. Selfridge fans on a historical tour of the store, I am always trying to match which area in the series is now which area in the store and now whenever I enter the premises I crank my neck and walk in a semi-daze trying to recognise the old parts of Selfridges shown on TV. We need a tour, dear Selfridges, we definitely do!
The first season had only 10 episodes and aired on January 2013 on ITV and by the time it was over, I personally almost watched all the episodes back-to-back, I was left wanting more and had to down my sorrow by asking my dear friend Lama to bring me the Mr. Selfridge biography that sparked the idea for the series. The book is by Lindy Woodhead and is titled “Shopping, Seduction & Mr Selfridge” if you are interested and my friend got it for me from Kino in Dubai Mall.
The second, and long awaited season, aired on January 2014 and I cannot express how happy I was to be watching new episodes of both Mr. Selfridge and Sherlock together. I was lucky enough to be in London during the airing of the last episode of the season in March and I was on twitter with the rest of the British nation watching the show and tweeting our thoughts and that was fun. However, now I have nothing to do but re-watch the ten episodes again.
The third season is currently being developed and is scheduled for release in January 2015. If you haven’t seen the show already, I urge you to start watching it now. Lucky you, you have 20 new episodes to watch while I have none. Mr. Selfridge is the kind of TV series that captivates you from the moment the opening song comes on, I personally get shivers of delights whenever I hear the opening. I need more crazed fans around me so we could discuss the series together, I cannot seem to find anyone who is interested enough.
