Up the Women

Seasons

2013

7.2

Suffragists band together to spread the word--but first they need to learn their own lessons.

Episode List

S1 • E1

Up the Women

In 1910 Margaret Unwin, a member of the Banbury Intricate Craft Circle, becomes inspired by the women's suffrage movement after a visit to London and attempts to interest the rest of the group in votes for women. Bombastic chairperson Helen expresses disapproval, asserting that women are weak, silly, and incapable of decision-making, but her sulky daughter Emily, saucy mother Myrtle Von Heckling, and perpetually-pregnant Eva are all enthusiastic. Helen tries to start a counter-suffrage group but Margaret, using weak-wristed young Thomas as an example of male inefficacy, wins over the others, who--along with simple Gwen--commit to the cause.

S1 • E2

Picket

The women's placards arrive; unfortunately they're the wrong shape and too cumbersome. The women prepare for action but are unsure what form this should take. Emily suggests blowing up Parliament or killing the King, which Margaret writes on a chalkboard. They finally decide to picket the post office, but must ask for it to remain open. When a statue of Venus in the library is desecrated, P.C. John Thackeray, an old flame of Margaret's, comes to investigate. Emily's chalked suggestions look ominous, but it turns out that the culprits are another group of suffragists.

S1 • E3

The Poem

The women are excited when Margaret gets a reply to her letter to suffragist leader Mrs. Pankhurst, announcing that she plans to visit the group with a view to their affiliation with the Women's Social and Political Union. Only Helen, who went to school with Mrs. Pankhurst and dislikes her, is unimpressed. Mrs. Pankhurst duly arrives, in a huge hat and referring to herself in the third person. Though unmoved by the song and tableau that the women perform for her, she believes that they should be allied because she admired their vandalism of the statue of Venus in the library. Unfortunately, Margaret owns up that this was the work of their rival group, and the affiliation is withdrawn.