Synopsis

With the help of an array of commentators, experts and historians she tells the stories of the women who have reached the top of the profession and reaped its rewards - the high class call-girls of ancient Greece, Restoration actresses, professional courtesans and high-powered Madames, as well as delving into the murky underworld of Roman sex-pits, mollyhouses and sex trafficking.

In a series full of surprises, the programmes will show how this ancient trade has not only reflected, our sexual habits, moral outlook and attitudes to women but has helped to shape the world we live in. The prostitutes lot has been constantly shifting - over time whores and harlots have been elevated, abused, exploited and commodified . But as Lucy discovers , it's a surprisingly resilient profession that has defeated all attempts to suppress and control it. We live in a world which seems to be ever more tolerant of prostitution but increasingly concerned about exploitation and the series will explore how far we have or haven't come over the centuries.

Packed with great characters and first hand accounts, the series weaves dramatic reconstructions with location filming and interviews.
Contributors include Hedi Fleiss, Rowan Pelling, Cristina Odone, Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen and Cynthia Payne

PROGRAMME ONE HARLOTS AND HOLY HOOKERS

As Lucy Moore discovers far from being morally questionable or sleazy Prostitution was once an honourable and elevated profession. IN ancient Sumer (now Iraq) one of the oldest recorded civilisations, temple maidens pleased the Gods and ensured the fertility of the land by offering sexual favours for temple donations. It was the pleasure -loving Greeks who transformed the profession into something purely secular. Lucy discovers how Prostitution ran rife in ancient Athens, offering some women a route to power and status unmatched in the classical world - and others a life of poverty and degradation. The profession was absorbed by the Romans into the machinery of Empire. Visiting the ruins of ancient brothels of Pompei, Lucy discovers the realities of life in one of the many brothels that proliferated; and we hear the extraordinary stories of Messalina the sexually voracious Empress who became a whore and the meteoric rise of Theodora the whore who became an Empress. The emergence of Christianity however would change everything - now God was in the bedroom where did that leave Prostitution?


PROGRAMME 2 COURTESANS AND WHORES

Lucy Moore takes us on a roller coaster ride chronicling the fortunes of the profession from the hypocrisy of the dark ages to the golden age of the Courtesan. Shot in Rome, Paris and London

Officially Prostitution had no place in the Christian faith - unofficially a double standard was at work and its worst excess were enjoyed by the very people who denounced it - in particular the papacy who ran brothels inside the Vatican for their own pleasure.
In Britain 'The Restoration' brought with it a return to pleasure and unbridled licentiousness, with Nell Gwyn showing just how far an actress-come- whore could go when she became Charles 11's mistress. But it was in the 18th century that London's prosperity made it the sex capital of Europe. From whipping parlours to 'bagnio's' every kind of sexual service was on offer and London became a breeding ground for an elite class of prostitute - the courtesan. The best of them became style icons and society figures. We tell the stories of Harriet Wilson the most infamous kiss and tell girl in history and the Queen of Courtesans, Cora Pearl.

PROGRAMME THREE CALL GIRLS AND MADAMES

Beginning with the Victorian moral crusade to reform 'fallen women'
We chart the story of prostitution as it resist all attempts to stamp it out only to become embroiled in headline making scandals with the Jack The Ripper killings and The Trials Of Oscar Wilde . As we move into the 20th century WW1 gives an impetus to the profession as men seek solace off the battle field and soon organised crime moves in to exploit the profits. Lucy tells the story of Marthe Watts 'The wickedest woman in London' and as the worlds of showbusiness and prostitution become more intimately connected ,chronicles the rise of celebrity Madams such as Janie Jones and Cynthia Payne. We hear from the greatest Madam of them all - Heidi Fleiss about her Hollywood vice ring. But with sex trafficking causing growing alarm, Lucy visits Amsterdam where they have tackled the problems by make the profession legal. She talks to sex workers in London and Holland wonders how we can keep the profession under check in the age of the internet and cyberhooker.