Suddenly the Housekeeper of an upper-class London home in a period of unmatched upheaval, Tess Newman is determined to draw on her practical nature to see her way through. What she does not know is that yet more tragedy lays upon the horizon, which will test her fortitude to its extremes.
Nellie Jones
Nellie Jones likes to think of herself as the greatest actress that was to ever dance across the stages of Drury Lane, Marylebone Theatre and the Old Vic, – she’s also the greatest fuck of London! Alas, whatever goes up must come down, and with her reputation straddling the line of titillating and downright scandalous she dares to run out of time to correct all that was lost. Still, at least she’s having fun.
Felicité Findley
Felicité Findley is an aspiring artist (and sometimes, stunner licked upon the canvas) who hopes to find her own path to life through living beneath her older sister and her inherited house. With her sister having succumbed with grief for the sudden death of her sailor husband, Felicité ventured to London from Oxford in order to act as confidante and well meaning aid. But, as always, the life to adulthood is never quite so simple, and as the future begins to dawn on this aspiring young woman, Felicité worries that all she has worked toward has been done for nothing.
Skye McDaniels
Skye is driven, sharp, and uncompromising, shaped by a harsh childhood in Dublin and a rough start in London. Raised without the safety net of a solid family, she learned quickly that the world wasn’t kind to those without power. By sixteen, she’d started making her place in London’s underbelly, first as a worker and eventually as a savvy businesswoman. Now the owner of The Moth & Lantern, Skye has turned her brothel into more than just a means of survival — it’s a stepping stone to bigger things. She values loyalty above all, especially from those closest to her, like her brother Eoin, though their relationship is complex. Skye doesn’t leave room for weakness or sentimentality; everything she does is calculated, and she’s determined to climb higher in the world, no matter the cost.
Lisette Berwald
Site Canon Character
Star Soprano
24 · Female
FC: Kate Winslet
The famed “Swedish nightingale” Lisette Berwald is a star soprano opera singer. She resides in London, and will do so for at least the next two seasons. Her performances at the Royal Italian Opera have been met with rave reviews and much acclaim by critics and laypeople alike. Born in Sweden, she was discovered for her extraordinary voice and has been a court singer in Sweden and Norway, followed by engagements in Berlin and Vienna, where she was mobbed by admirers and received by royals. Now in London, she has secured the most lucrative deal of her career – but fate is capricious and past struggles with vocal damage may (or may not) come back to haunt her.
Madeline Wheeler
Site Canon Character
Thief
20 – 25 · Female
FC: Tanya Roberts
One of the newest Lambs, Madeline is the daughter of Irish immigrants who came to London seeking a better life. Instead, they found rampant discrimination, crime, and disappointment. Madeline had little intention of following her mother into the career of a washerwoman, and so turned to petty theft. One of the people she tried to steal from ended up being Lila Scriven, who took a liking to the firebrand of a young woman. Under Lila’s tutelage, Madeline has begun to blossom into a very promising thief indeed. She is wholly devoted to the gang and its leaders. Recently her parents have begun to question the source of her suddenly much greater income, and she can only lie for so long. Right now she claims to have a wealthy beau who grants her all sorts of gifts and allowance, but how long that particular lie will last is anyone’s guess.
Lila Scriven
Site Canon Character
Co-Leader of the 40 Lambs
30 – 35 · Female
FC: Sujaya Dasgupta
One of the “Twins” that lead the 40 Lambs, Lila is the mastermind behind the entire enterprise. Though many consider her the ‘softer’ of the Twins, Lila is as ruthless as Beatrix, her ‘wife’. The daughter of an English soldier and his Indian wife, Lila has seen how society rejects those deemed lesser or different, and has resorted to carving out a place for herself and her family. Now that the gang has met with such wild success, her ambitions have grown accordingly. She will allow nothing to threaten the success and peace that she has worked so hard to create. All that matters is herself, her wife, and the family they have found.
“Mama” Beatrix Scriven
Site Canon Character
Co-Leader of the 40 Lambs
30 – 40 · Female
FC: Charlize Theron
One of the “Twins” that lead the 40 Lambs, Beatrix is often known as “Mama” or “Mama Bea” by her “lambs,” the women that make up her gang. Beatrix is the leader who wields the iron fist. When the Twins get their hands dirty, it’s Beatrix’s hands that end up bloodiest. Though the concept of the gang and its success is largely due to the strategic mind of her other half, it’s Beatrix’s force of will and willingness to be brutal that has allowed the gang to flourish. She is not a woman of halves. She is devoted entirely to her ‘wife’ Lila, to the gang, and to seeing their power continue to grow.
Maggie Gladwin
Maggie is a maid who is usually sweet ray of country sunshine. However, she returns to London under a cloudy sky. Will the clouds clear for her or are there more storms on the horizon?
Amira St. Clair
Antiquities dealer & smuggler/Governess
Early-mid 30s · Ciswoman
Played by Chelsey
FC: Tuppence Middleton
FC: Tuppence Middleton
Mrs. Alice Johnson-Riley is an unassuming governess recently arrived from Boston. Looking to start over with a new life, she seeks employment with a respectable family, with impeccable references from New York. And it all looks perfectly ordinary on paper, does it not? A flawless referral delivered by a thirty-six-year-old woman with freckled skin and eyes a bewitching shade of hazel-green. A woman whose father named her Amira Hanım Andrews Al-Rashid, after his wife died shortly after bringing the tiny little girl into the world ahead of her time. A woman who certainly spent her time as a governess in her twenties — but whose current interests lie in providences that wax poetical. By law or by hand, ancient mysteries mixed up in recent tragedies, and the combination creates a woman with a singular agenda: find out who killed her family.