AllMovie

Adapted from the novel by Phyllis Shand Allfrey, the four-part British minseries Orchid House was set in the Dominican Republic between the two World Wars. The emphasis was on three middle-class English sisters -- Joan (Frances Baarber), Natalie (Elizabeth Hurley), and Stella (Kate Buffery) -- who lived in the same house with their ailing father. The novel is partly autobiographical, as Allfrey was herself born on the island of Dominica in 1908 and later founded the Dominican Labour Party. The story detailed the three sisters' growing awareness that, given the rapidly changing state of the world, they could no longer live out their lives like sheltered hothouse orchids -- especially after the loss of their family's savings. Orchid House was broadcast on Britain's Channel 4 in 1991.