History Literature / MappAndLucia

The three final books of the series were adapted for television by Creator/Channel4 in 1985, starring Geraldine Mc Ewan as Lucia, Prunella Scales as Mapp, and Creator/NigelHawthorne as Georgie.

* AwesomeMcCoolName: The aristocratically-named Algernon Wyse and his sister Amelia, the Contessa di Faraglione.

The first novel, Queen Lucia (1920), set in Riseholme, introduces the characters of Lucia and her right-hand man, Georgie Pillson.

The second novel, Miss Mapp (1922) pivots away from Lucia and introduces Miss Elizabeth Mapp (Lucia's eventual arch-nemesis) and her social circle in the town of Tilling.

The third novel, Lucia in London (1927) returns its focus to Lucia as she takes up temporary residence in a fashionable London house for the summer season.

The fourth through sixth novels, Mapp and Lucia (1931), Lucia's Progress (1935), and Trouble for Lucia (1939) see Lucia (along with Georgie) moving to Tilling and facing off against Miss Mapp.

** Georgie Pillson. Played up in the 2014 adaptation. Ends up marrying Lucia at the end of Lucia's Progress, though their relationship is explicitly stated to lack a physical component.

* CannotKeepASecret: Most of the Tilling characters fall under this trope, but Diva Plaistow is especially loose-lipped. When Lucia wishes to unofficially announce her engagement to Georgie to her friends in The Worshipful Lucia, she sends a confidential note to Diva.

* EscalatingWar: The fourth novel and both television adaptations highlight the increasingly aggressive and hostile attempts by Mapp and Lucia to one-up each other and reign over Tilling. By the end of the series, Lucia, originally just a summer tenant of Mapp's house, owns said house (which she renames from "Mallards" to the more stately "Mallards House"), has earned a sizable fortune from stock investing, sits on most committees in Tilling, and has been elected MAYOR. Mapp, on the other hand, is relocated to a house outside of the town limits. It's safe to say who the victor is.

* FunnyForeigner: The Guru from Queen Lucia, though Lucia, Georgie, Daisy, and the townsfolk take him quite seriously. Subverted in the revelation that he is a curry-cook from London on the run from the law.

* FunWithForeignLanguages: Lucia, her husband Philip, and Georgie are all fascinated with Italian, despite not being fluent in the language outside of a few, simple sentences, but they all pretend to be fluent around their friends. This backfires when an Italian composer comes to stay at Riseholme in Queen Lucia.

** By the time of Lucia's Progress, Elizabeth and Benjy (now the Mapp-Flints) honeymooned in France, where they learned the language. Elizabeth intersperses French phrases and words into her speech to combat Lucia and Georgie's Italian.

The Mapp and Lucia novels (also known as the Make Way for Lucia series) are a series of social comedies published by E.F. Benson from 1920 to 1939. They detail the rise of wealthy English socialite Mrs. Emmeline Lucas (known to her friends as Lucia) as she dominates the social landscape in the town of Riseholme (and, in the later novels, Tilling).

[[caption-width-right:350: Elizabeth Mapp and Emmeline "Lucia" Lucas from the 2014 television adaptation.]]

* BritishStuffiness: Susan Poppit, MBE. Embodies this trope even more after marrying the aristocratic Algernon Wyse, when she begins wearing furs and being chauffeured about in her Rolls Royce instead of walking to do her shopping on the High Street like the other women of Tilling. Averted with Olga Bracely, the wealthy opera singer who (though a part of wealthy and fashionable social circles) is genuinely kind and unpretentious towards Georgie, the people of Riseholme, and even Lucia, who is continually aloof towards her.

** Subverted with Georgie Pillson. In his first two book appearances, he is capable of resisting Lucia's demands to the point of antagonism. By the time they move to Tilling, Georgie does go along with her schemes, but he does offer arguments to some of Lucia's more wild schemes (not that she listens). He is a far more willing Yes Man for Olga Bracely than for Lucia.

* UnsatisfiableCustomer: Mapp regularly terrorizes the shop owners in the High Street of Tilling.

* NakedPeopleAreFunny: In the second novel, Mapp walks in on Irene's art studio when she is painting nude subjects. Mapp's reaction and subsequent avoidance of Irene are played for laughs.