Yahoo Lifestyle The true story behind 'Dope Girls', BBC One’s captivating new period drama
Those who love period dramas have been spoiled for choice with the veritable smorgasbord of excellent series on screens; as well as Miss Austen, which tells a beautiful story of sisterly love, Disney Plus show A Thousand Blows packs a punch with its plot following bare-knuckle fighting and an all-female criminal gang in 19th century London.
Now, a third drama has entered the fray, with BBC One’s Dope Girls – a rip-roaring look at Soho’s underground club scene and the women who spearheaded it in the aftermath of the First World War.
The series follows Kate Galloway (played by Mare of Easttown and Paradise star Julianne Nicholson), a single mother saddled with debt, who decides to open a nightclub – and finds herself ruling over the scene’s seedy underbelly.
The series comes from the award-winning Bad Wolf production company (previous credits include Industry and I Hate Suzie), so viewers can expect to instantly be hooked to another captivating drama.
But the plot that powers Dope Girls draws parallels with true events, which helped shaped central London’s nightlife as we know it today. Galloway bares resemblance to London’s ‘Queen of the Night’ Kate Meyrick, who ruled over London in the 1920s.
Here’s the stranger-than-fiction story of Meyrick, who formed the foundation of Dope Girls.
Is Dope Girls based on a true story? Who was Kate Meyrick?
In Dope Girls, we see Kate Galloway as a god-fearing woman working in a butcher’s shop during the Great War, trying to support her daughter. However, after she discovers that her husband has died in combat, she is saddled with his debts – forcing her to head to London, where she comes embroiled in the start of the roaring twenties club scene.
Kate Meyrick’s story is similar. After separating with her doctor husband in 1980, she struggled to support their eight children on a meagre allowance of just £1 a week. When she saw a job in London paying £50 to run ‘tea dances’, she found herself launched into the nightlife scene, opening her first venture, Dalton, in 1919.
Similarly to Galloway, Meyrick’s clubs saw her become infamous. With a booming economy and optimistic outlook following the defeat of Germany, a new generation of bright young things were now looking for places to party. Meyrick’s venues were considered to be dens of iniquity, where drug-taking, drinking and casual sex was welcomed. Because of the no-holds-barred attitude to what happened behind closed doors, Meyrick’s venues often attracted questionable clientele – gangsters and sex workers were commonplace, much to the chagrin of the police. In 1920, Meyrick was fined and Dalton was closed.
However, Meyrick was a woman without scruples who made no bones about mocking the lawmakers that chased her, and simply would open up new ventures when her clubs were shuttered – often at the same premises.
Meyrick’s most famous venue was The 43 Club on Gerrard Street – a large nightclub which was open until 6am, offering illicit alcohol as well as dancing, dinners and even breakfasts for clients. Meyrick’s reputation, as well the venue's infamous night-long revelry, attracted high-end clients including actors and writers; those who attended The 43 Club include Hollywood starlet and Hitchcock muse Tallulah Bankhead and An Inspector Calls playwright JB Priestly. The 43 Club was promptly closed in 1922 – however, Meyrick merely reopened the venue as The Proctors, as well as expanding her empire by opening up more locations. As police continued to target Meyrick’s nightclubs, she began to collude with gangsters to seek more protection. While she wasn’t explicitly connected with drug trafficking, as suggested in Dope Girls, Meyrick’s venues were bases for criminals to deal their wares.
The press watched Meyrick’s cat-and-mouse chase with the law with amusement, with Meyrick being named ‘The Queen of the Nightclubs’ and ‘The Most Dangerous Woman in London’.
Dope Girls - Marek Kohn
She was estimated to have earned £500,000 during her career, the equivalent of £17 million in today’s money, but at this point, Meyrick’s health had started to deteriorate. After serving five prison sentences, she passed away in 1933, at the age of 57.
Where can I watch Dope Girls?
Dope Girls is airing weekly on Saturday nights on BBC One. You can watch the whole series on iPlayer.
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