Holly De Jong

Miles buys himself a state-of-the-art computer that starts expressing thoughts and emotions after a having champagne spilled on him. Things start getting out of hand when both Miles and Edgar, the computer, fall in love with Madeline, an attractive neighbour.

Peter Bowles gives a memorable performance as Fleet Street's most successful gossip columnist, Neville Lytton. Co-created by Bowles, this highly popular drama started life as a single play in the Storyboard anthology before continuing through two critically acclaimed series. Featuring appearances by Gwen Taylor, Ralph Bates, Pamela Salem, Jean Kent, Elspet Gray and Lee Patterson, this set comprises both series alongside the original Storyboard play. Suave, shrewd and with an instinct for a good story (tempered by a strong sense of fair play and occasional threats of litigation...), Neville Lytton is justly famed for the Gossip Diary that peps up the pages of The Daily News. Society tit-bits often give way to high-profile exposés, however, when Lytton and his colleagues stumble upon shady dealings, corruption at the highest levels, cover-ups and con-artists...

Set in London between 1900 and 1925, the story follows Louisa Leyton/Trotter, the eponymous "Duchess", who works her way up from servant to renowned cook to proprietress of the upper-class Bentinck Hotel in Duke Street, St. James's.