Lady Chatterley’s Stories (TV Series)

Rating: N/A
Released: 2000
Starring: Shauna O’Brien, Chloe Nicholle
Directed by: Rebecca Lord
IMDb

I guess that I should come out up front and say that as the founder and manager of two clubs dedicated to the lead character of this series-and two more clubs dedicated to the woman who played the lead for most of the series (Chloe Nicholle played the lead for the two first episodes, “The Wager” and “The Manuscript”)-I guess that I might not be the most objective person to handle a review of “Lady Chatterley”. But someone has to provide a review, so I’ll guess that I’ll suspend my lusts long enough to give a somewhat objective analysis.

The main feature of this series is in the innovative and quite sexy means that our heroine resolves her friends’ romantic disputes and sexual issues. Lady Constance Chatterley serves by day as a land broker, but negotiates her best deals at night through her basic knowledge and “sexperiences”…and some assistance from a few friends. Along the way, she manages to get her own insatiable desires delivered as well.

Although the sex scenes are generally average for your typical MRG/Showtime fare, there are some very nice-if brief-moments of passion to be found. (There are also some very bad scenes as well…take the opening scene of “One Night Stand” where Shannan Leigh and Danny Pape have their fake tryst in the hallway; the directors include such a bad camera angle that you can obviously tell that they are faking it in one frame.) The second virtue of this series is its honest and frank sex-positive message that is often lacking in most softcore series. It is most refreshing to see a series where people having sex are not excoriated, executed, or dissed for loving sex for its own sake. For a sex-positive person like me, that is an essential requirement.

But it’s not just the sex-positive message that makes “Lady Chatterley” shine above the rest; it’s above everything else the beautiful messenger, as performed by the sometimes maligned (at least here on these pages) Shauna O’Brien. (I skip the first two episodes mentioned above, where they originally cast a hardcore actress named Chloe to play the lead; she barely registers above the Richter scale in sensuality or passion.)

Everyone else can gag over Shauna’s fake boobs or her sometimes frozen demeanor in some of her sex scenes; but in this series she shows off much more than just her rack or her gorgeous face and body. She shows the beauty and sensuality that first set off hormones with “Friend of the Family”. Indeed, you could say that Lady Chatterley is really a modern version of Elke Taylor…with a fancier ride and a bigger mansion, perhaps. Mostly, however, Shauna shows off her erotic acting ability in taking the character and giving her the full dimension of brains, beauty, quick wit, and passion that is required of the role. (Of course, she also gives us the ample views of her lovely body-boobs and all-in a variety of erotic scenes.)

The support cast is also generally decent to average; although there are some notable performances that will stand out: Regina Russell as the copycat wife in “The Husband”; Danny Pape as the computer geek in “Substance of Desire”; Flower Edwards as the mysterious woman who joins two friends together in “Mystery Lover”; and so on. All in all, “Lady Chatterley’s Stories” is generally not that far above the pack as far as softcore erotica is concerned…but watching Shauna perform her magic makes up for it all. Memo to future softcore producers: Just give her the damn ball at the start next time.