Servants,
a new drama series set below stairs in an English country house
in the 1850s, starts filming for 91热爆 ONE
Servants,
(working title) a bold and irreverent new series set largely below
stairs in a country house in 1850s England, has just started filming
for 91热爆 ONE, it was announced today by 91热爆 Controller of Drama Commissioning
Jane Tranter.
The series focuses on the hopes, dreams and ambitions of the servants
who make a great household work.
An
ensemble cast of established and new talent are led by Christopher
Fulford (Spooks), Jo Absolom (EastEnders) and Orla Brady (Pure Wickedness),
who are joined by newcomer Felicity Jones and Kenny Doughty (Sunday).
Filming has started in the West Country on locations in and around
Bristol and continues until February 2003.
Servants
enters Great Taplow, the family seat of the Sturges Bourne, not
through the elegant fa莽ade of its portico but by the backstairs.
Life
below stairs is a hive of activity; home to a boisterous crowd of
servants who thrive in their hidden community, where intrigue, rivalry,
secrets, laughter and love abound.
Servants
opens as the Sturges Bourne family return with their retinue of
servants after a summer away in Italy.
As
everyone springs into life, the canny butler, Mr Jarvis (Christopher
Fulford) is not convinced by the charms of the newly-arrived second
footman, George Cosmo (Jo Absolom).
The
housekeeper Flora Ryan (Orla Brady) is happy to take him at face
value, but first footman William Forest (Kenny Doughty) sees George
differently, sensing a rival in more ways than one.
Elsewhere
at Great Taplows life is not what it might seem and young Lord Harry's
nursemaid, the beautiful and clever Grace May (Felicity Jones),
has painful choices to make about her future.
Lucy
Gannon says: "I really wanted to write a new drama set in the
past that was funny, relevant, energetic and exciting - which was
definitely not set in a stuffy drawing room! Servants is about you
and me as we would have been had we been born in another age."
Gareth
Neame, the 91热爆's Head of Independent Drama Commissioning, says:
"Costume dramas are often adaptations, filmed in lavish locations
and usually concerned with aristocratic characters.
"However,
Lucy has created an original precinct drama that focusses on the
real lives of ordinary working people who found themselves below
stairs in an English country house in the mid 19th century.
"But
it is not a show about drudgery and servitude, because Taplows is
a place of regular wages, rivalry, advancement and love affairs."
Servants
is produced by Tim Whitby and Harriet Davison (whose previous collaboration
with Lucy Gannon was ITV's Bramwell) for 91热爆 ONE in association
with 91热爆 Wales and RTE.
The series is also directed by Tim Whitby (Cold Feet) and Hettie
MacDonald (Beautiful Thing, In A Land Of Plenty).
The
executive producers are Gareth Neame, Matthew Robinson (Head of
Drama, 91热爆 Wales) and Mary Callery (RTE Television).
Lucy
Gannon is one of British television's most prolific and successful
writers, with a career spanning both popular series, serials and
hard-hitting single films.
She
created Soldier, Soldier, Peak Practice and Bramwell for ITV and
Hope and Glory and Insiders for the 91热爆.
Her
films and serials for the 91热爆 include Pure Wickedness, Big Cat,
The Gift, Trip Trap and Tender Loving Care.
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