Mr. Selfridge 3 - Episode TEN

The last episode in the series of Mr Selfridge had a certain brassy charm

Mr Selfridge, series 3, episode 10, review: 

review by By Ceri Radford

We all know what happened to Selfridges the shop: it thrives to this day, disgorging yellow paper shopping bags and sated Chinese tourists onto the pavements of Oxford Street.

But what of the man behind this gleaming temple of commerce, brilliantly fictionalised for ITV by Jeremy Piven as a bearded, ebullient, over-sexed showman?

In last night’s finale of the third series of Mr Selfridge, the eponymous character may have survived a vote of no confidence from his shareholders, brought about by nefarious arch-foe Lord Loxley (Aidan McArdle), but he was still dealt a tough hand, both literally and figuratively.

Having stumbled through grief at the death of his wife into the clutches of con-woman Nancy Webb (Kelly Adams) over the course of the series, it was time for the wool (no doubt sourced from the finest Mongolian cashmere) to be lifted from Harry Selfridge’s eyes. He loved her. She loved him. The only impediment to their marriage was the bride-to-be’s elaborate plan to run off with half his substantial worldly goods.

In a hammy climax, she repented and confessed all, but the benevolent one turned tough and told her to “crawl back under your stone”.

It all ended with an ominous portent for the next and final series: Selfridge slumped at a card table, surrounded by his biggest vices: gambling, alcohol and pretty women.

As subtle as a shopfront at Christmas, what Mr Selfridge lacks in depth it makes up for in brassy charm.

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