SummaryMargaret Wells (Samantha Morton) juggles life as an owner of a brothel and a mother of two daughters as a rival (Lesley Manville) seeks to shut her down in this drama set in the 1700s London.
Created By:Moira Buffini, Alison Newman
Harlots
Season 1 Premiere:
Mar 27, 2017
Metascore
Generally Favorable
73
User score
Mixed or Average
5.8
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All Seasons
Top Cast
Metascore
Generally Favorable
73
92% Positive
22 Reviews
22 Reviews
8% Mixed
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Jul 10, 2019
90
Consistently been one of TV's top dramas of the last few years. ... The plot [is] more intricate (and enthralling) than filigree. Yet, the storylines — involving heist, blackmail and arson in just the first three episodes — merely pay homage to the heart-wrenching themes of weaponized sexuality and the shackles of status.
Dec 4, 2019
80
There is a jarring clash between the grim subject matter and the relentlessly ribald sew-pearls-in-your-muff-hair tone. But at its best the discomfort is the point. Sex work is a brutal and messy business. What saves Harlots from falling down the ancient traps of objectification, fetishisation, and sexist tropes of “tarts with hearts” and hookers who secretly love it is its solidly female gaze. Plus its commitment to diversity and top-notch writing.
User score
Mixed or Average
5.8
55% Positive
26 Ratings
26 Ratings
15% Mixed
7 Ratings
7 Ratings
30% Negative
14 Ratings
14 Ratings
Mar 9, 2025
8
This is a really good show. I generally don't like shows with an excessive amount of sex scenes, but this is one of the few where it actually makes sense and doesn't feel like it's shoved in to keep horny people watching. The plot itself is really great, and the character development throughout the seasons are top notch. The only thing I don't like it sometimes characters will seem to do ridiculously stupid things just to move the plot forward or give the audience a shocking scene. In that way, it feels like lazy writing on occasion. The ending is somewhat rushed since the show was canceled, but it was still surprisingly satisfying for what they can do with the time they had. Lydia Quigley is one of my favorite villains in media.
May 26, 2020
4
It could be a lot worse. My biggest beefs are the abundant anachronisms, the generally poor writing, and some of the performances. It also suffers from the current malaise of wallowing in the gruesome and the prurient. But the sets and costumes are nice and some of the performances are not nauseating.
Mar 28, 2017
80
Harlots is unsparing and sympathetic, able to find humor in its characters’ romps and compassion for the profession’s tragedies.
Apr 13, 2017
75
Harlots, on Hulu, is certainly audacious. And ambitious. But whether it will be able to pull off it’s fine-line feminist balancing act remains to be seen; this show may end up groundbreaking or it may end up a train wreck. In the meantime it’s hard to look away.
Mar 27, 2017
75
Forgive the salacious hook for a show that is not so much titillating as it is gripping, surprising, at times humorous and even a bit thought-provoking when it comes to exploring how sex is just as valuable as money or power.
Mar 28, 2017
70
The show’s creators--the accomplished and ambitious playwright and screenwriter Moira Buffini and the actress Alison Newman--set an unflagging pace in the two episodes available for review, with dialogue that’s sufficiently crisp and performances that are entertaining enough to keep you interested, even if the story feels a little hollow at the core.
Mar 29, 2017
40
There’s a hesitancy to confront the thicket of conflicting emotions that are being hinted at underneath the not-so-charmed life of the Wells girls and the women they work with (or against) but the origins and the precariousness of these feelings never quite explored with any daring or seriousness. ...There is the constant use of the titular term, which rips you out of the action without care whenever it’s hurled about, but that’s not half as annoying as the music.
Nov 18, 2020
0
I havent seen anything this bad for a long long time. Deliberately crude and coming across like the kind of pseudo-England made for American audiences we have been cringing at for decades. It is a confused mess of a story that tries to get by on ribald humour and parts of better series. It desperately wants to be a middle ground between Game of Thrones and Peaky Blinders in the pseudohistorical shagfest department but lacks the writing talent of both series. It has been a long, long time since I saw something this bad on TV and I feel pity and fremdschamen that an actor as good as Alfie Allen graced this trash with his presence.
