Phryne's backstory! I've actually wondered whether the books offer more concrete and developed information about this, but since she's aged up for TV (thank you, TV) I don't know that it would help much. The show seems to have approached it mostly via handwave so far – although I say this on the basis of a first viewing and zero research. On rewatch we are TAKING NOTES.
For reference, Essie Davis was born in 1970, which is how you'd get the age 42 data point for Phryne at the beginning of the series, I think. But let's say, just to make the math simpler, that Phryne is 38 when the show opens in 1928. She would have been born in 1890 and been 25 in 1915.
1. When did Phryne and her parents leave Melbourne? In the pilot, Aunt Prudence (her mother's sister) says she hasn't seen Phryne since she was a girl. This seems quite implausible, since Prudence must have ties to England (with her plummy accent) and means to travel. But that aside, this suggests that the Fishers may have left for England not too long after Janey's disappearance. But if they were dirt poor, how did they finance the move? Did Aunt Prudence never want to give them money (she's high society and it doesn't look like she came into it through her marriage – although actually I think I'm confusing Prudence canon with something I read in a fanfic)? Did Mr. Fisher's "titled cousins" help support them or lend money for the move?
2. We know Phryne was a nurse on/near the western front during the war – it would be nice to understand more about the scars she carries from that experience. We know she stayed on in Paris for a time cavorting with the Bohemian crowd (the Renée Dubois episode - events in 1919). In the course of the war, her father inherited land and fortune. Presumably Phryne went back to England to live with her parents after she burned out on Paris – we see her traveling from her glamorous life there at the opening of the series. She doesn't seem to think much of her parents (father, at least), so why did she stay? Phryne returns to Melbourne, it's implied, because Foyle is near the end of his prison sentence.
TIMELINE
For reference, Essie Davis was born in 1970, which is how you'd get the age 42 data point for Phryne at the beginning of the series, I think. But let's say, just to make the math simpler, that Phryne is 38 when the show opens in 1928. She would have been born in 1890 and been 25 in 1915.
1. When did Phryne and her parents leave Melbourne? In the pilot, Aunt Prudence (her mother's sister) says she hasn't seen Phryne since she was a girl. This seems quite implausible, since Prudence must have ties to England (with her plummy accent) and means to travel. But that aside, this suggests that the Fishers may have left for England not too long after Janey's disappearance. But if they were dirt poor, how did they finance the move? Did Aunt Prudence never want to give them money (she's high society and it doesn't look like she came into it through her marriage – although actually I think I'm confusing Prudence canon with something I read in a fanfic)? Did Mr. Fisher's "titled cousins" help support them or lend money for the move?
2. We know Phryne was a nurse on/near the western front during the war – it would be nice to understand more about the scars she carries from that experience. We know she stayed on in Paris for a time cavorting with the Bohemian crowd (the Renée Dubois episode - events in 1919). In the course of the war, her father inherited land and fortune. Presumably Phryne went back to England to live with her parents after she burned out on Paris – we see her traveling from her glamorous life there at the opening of the series. She doesn't seem to think much of her parents (father, at least), so why did she stay? Phryne returns to Melbourne, it's implied, because Foyle is near the end of his prison sentence.