UK / BBC1 / 6x50m-e / April 2003

REGULAR CAST

With:- Christopher Fulford as Jarvis / Orla Brady as Flora Ryan / Joe Absolom as George Cosmo / Felicity Jones as Grace May / Kenny Doughty as William Forest / Caroline Hayes as Esther Spicer / Shaun Parkes as Frederick Matkin / Daon Broni as Joseph James / Jon Morrison as Andrew Adams / Anatole Taubman as Felix Kraus / Catherine Shepherd as Charlotte Lewis / Leona Walker as Susan Eliot / Amanda Brewster as Lizzie Sabin.

PRODUCTION CREDITS

Creator Lucy Gannon / Music: Murray Gold / Design: Claire Kenny Costume: Rosalind Ebbutt / Executive Producers: Gareth Neame (BBC), Matthew Robinson (BBC Wales), Mary Callery (RTE)

...............

Episode One

Servants opens as the Sturges Borne family return to their country seat,Taplows, with their retinue of servants after a summer away in Italy. As the household springs into life, new boy, second footman George Cosmo, is determined to impress, but struggles to survive his first day when his fraudulent reference is almost exposed.While housekeeper Flora Ryan is happy to take George at face value, the butler, Mr Jarvis, wants to dig deeper into his background. The surprise departure of the under butler, Frank Keneally, presents George and first footman William Forest with the prospect of promotion and instantly makes them rivals – though, ultimately, both are thwarted. In the meantime, young Lord Harry’s nursemaid, the beautiful and clever Grace May, has to choose between her head and her heart.

Episode Two

Preparations are under way for a grand dinner and Taplows’ servants, particularly Mr Jarvis, are keen to impress the visiting servants.The extravagant dinner is also an opportunity for the footmen to make a little extra cash on the side. William Forest embroils George Cosmo in a scam with Andrew Adams, the new, bullying under butler. But the plan starts to unravel when the cheap fish procured by George and William poisons the guests. When Andrew discovers what has happened, he wastes no time in humiliating William and pocketing the profits. Meanwhile, Grace has to sell her old engagement ring to get George off the hook. 

Episode Three

Below stairs, the squabbling between Grace and housemaid Esther Spicer escalates to new heights, in the midst of preparations for the annual hunt ball. William trips on a loose rug and drops Harry, the Earl’s handicapped son, down some stairs. Housekeeper Flora and butler Mr Jarvis seek to blame each other’s staff for the accident.When Harry dies, the ball is cancelled but, to everyone’s relief, no one is blamed for the accident.The servants, determined to have fun, eat chef Felix Klaus’s sumptuous dinner, which had been intended for upstairs. Only Grace is genuinely upset by Harry’s death. Secretly, she covers his body with a blanket of flowers from the Earl’s prized orangery. But all hell breaks loose when the Earl discovers the vandalism of his plants and all of the servants’ wages are docked. Grace ecapes discovery, but Esther, her tormentor, is blamed and sacked.

Episode Four

Housekeeper Flora discovers that Mr Jarvis has been embezzling wages for years. She is appalled that her esteemed colleague could stoop so low. She confronts him and has to decide whether or not to expose his dishonesty. Meanwhile, Frederick Matkin, a good runner, is set to race a visiting servant. For the household, it’s a matter of reputation; for the Earl, it is a matter of a £5 wager; but, for Fred, it’s about keeping his job. Later, Flora decides that loyalty to her fellow servants is more important than loyalty to her masters, and Grace and George realise that if they are going to have a relationship, they will have to keep it secret.

Episode Five

The servants are having a double celebration – it’s New Year’s Eve and, better still, payday. Secret sweethearts Grace and George are just about managing to hide their ardent passion for each other. However, the bonhomie that fills the servants’ hall is lost on William, who is becoming increasingly tormented by nightmares about the death of young Harry. While William struggles with his demons at night, he becomes vulnerable to the goading and cruelty of under butler Andrew by day. On New Year’s Day, their simmering resentment boils over into violence when what begins as a jovial dip in the freezing pond, turns into a terrifying underwater fight. Meanwhile, tension and misunderstandings still beset Flora and Mr Jarvis, and lead to a painful estrangement.

Episode Six

When Grace and George are nearly discovered together in the middle of the night, Flora instigates a witch-hunt to identify the errant servants and institutes a moral clampdown. Mr Jarvis regards the new regime as idiocy and decides to move the household to Cumbria for the next few months. Flora is heartbroken – and comes to realise that she is fonder of the butler than she thought. Later, George’s fraudulent past finally catches up with him.