Christopher
Fulford as Jarvis
"Jarvis
is everyone’s rock and
commands total
respect," says
Christopher Fulford of
his latest television
role, which is a million
miles away from his
recent incarnation as a
serial killer in the
blockbuster attention to
detail, read ES Turner’s
classic historical
trait, What The Butler
Saw, from cover to
cover. "What comes
over from the book is
that service was the
first service
industry," notes
Fulford. "Mr Jarvis
is really managing a
gigantic hotel complex
and knows all about the
needs of his clients,
even before they do. He
is the professional’s
professional. It’s a
high-status job of which
he can be proud, and it’s
a means of
self-improvement, no
more, no less."
Jarvis’s
realistic approach to
his position is the
right one, says Fulford,
especially when we learn
that his real name is
Walter Cory. "The
Earl renamed him because
it is the tradition at
Taplows that the butler
is called Jarvis. One of
the many breaks with
received wisdom is that
the butler and master
aren’t personally
close, despite the years
they have known each
other. The bottom line
is that the Earl is his
client, not his
friend." Playing
Jarvis was a challenge,
acknowledges the
actor. "He’s a
complex and very astute
man. Despite being a
cynic, he still manages
to not only see the best
in people but also to
get the best out of
them. He demands very
exacting standards from
his staff but we’ve
got to understand how
far he’s come in life.
No expensive schooling
for him – Jarvis would
have come from very
humble roots, perhaps
from a small-holding
somewhere. What he’s
achieved is through hard
work and dedication and
that’s what he expects
from others.Through his
devotion to duty and
other people, he’s
gained an education both
formally and in the
university of
life." The actor
adds that he sees Jarvis
as an essentially kind
man."He wants to do
right by his staff, even
if his footmen and his
housekeeper do seriously
try his patience!
Whether he will ever
come to terms with his
more complicated
feelings for Flora Ryan
is anyone’s
guess."
 Orla
Brady as Flora
Ryan
Flora
Ryan is the senior
female member of staff,
permanently resident at
Taplows, and in charge
of all the female
servants. She has
considerable managerial
and pastoral skills but
the stresses of the job
can get to her. She has
chosen career and
security over romance
and marriage – a
choice she tries not to
regret.
"You
know Flora’s never
going to be the paragon
of efficiency and
organisation she feels
she should be. She’s
just not the right
temperament for the
job," Orla Brady
says affectionately of
her character. "She
should be a good
Catholic girl, a farmer’s
wife in the West of
Ireland with a brood of
kids clutching at her
skirts. "She does
her job conscientiously
and well, but there’s
just that feeling that
some of the pragmatic
choices she’s made in
her life have come back
to haunt her – she has
a thirst for the things
beyond the
mundane." Brady is
full of praise for the
brilliant way in which
writer Lucy Gannon
conveys Flora’s
repressed and confused
feelings for Mr Jarvis.
"She doesn’t
always like him but
there are heart-stopping
moments between them
when she longs for
things to be
different." And
while Flora’s job
brings absolute status,
high pay, her own
quarters and beautiful
silk clothes and
jewellery, Brady feels
that the housekeeper is
lonely in her gilded
cage. "I think the
defensiveness we see in
her sometimes comes from
a sense of
disillusionment about
love, men and God. Flora
knows that if she had
chosen another path,
then she would lose her
job. The masters didn’t
like ‘divided loyalty’
– if you were married,
you were out."
Flora’s predicament
reminds Brady of the
situations in which
women can find
themselves today.
"Her latent
loneliness reminds me of
some of the seemingly
glittering senior
corporate executives I’ve
met when in the States:
mature career women, who
enjoy beautiful homes,
cars and gorgeous
bodies. But at the end
of very long working
days, they go home to an
empty apartment,
sentenced to being
single because it’s so
hard to meet prospective
partners." Brady
explains that she sees
Flora as a kind of
sheriff, trying to keep
an opportunistic town of
pioneers in order.
"She would have
managed up to 50
resident female staff,
as well as the supplies
from local tradesmen,
and overseen all the
domestic tasks of the
estate out-workers. It’s
terrifying to think
about her daily routines
– it must have been
like co-ordinating a
state event every day
during which the peace
must be preserved and
everyone kept
happy!"
Brady
is delighted to be in a
Lucy Gannon drama again,
her first since Pure
Wickedness. "What I
love about Lucy’s work
is that she sees the
invisible people. She’ll
write about the cab
driver that you ignored
because you were
chatting on your mobile
phone. She’s very
egalitarian. What’s
even more fortunate for
us is that she can show
us ourselves with a
deftness of touch,
regardless of whether it’s
in our time or the
past." Brady’s
own romantic prospects
couldn’t be further
away from Flora’s. Her
joyful excitement about
her recent marriage to
photographer Nick is
infectious. As soon as
filming ended last
Christmas, the pair
jetted to Tanzania to
exchange vows in the
shadow of Kilimanjaro:
"The most beautiful
place on earth."
 Joe
Absolom plays second
footman George Cosmo
George Cosmo arrives
at Great Taplows and
inveigles his way
into the job of second
footman. He is
attractive, ambitious
and amoral, yet always
charming and amusing.
But, at heart, George
works the system and is
loyal to no one but
himself. He taught
himself to read and
write as a boy and has
always been quick to
learn – he’s even
tried to pick up some
French.
"George
is a happy, clever chap
who wants to get the job
done and sees being a
footman as his way to
move on to bigger and
better things,"
says 24- year-old Joe
Absolom, whom viewers
will remember as Matthew
in EastEnders and, most
recently, as the
kidnapper in ITV1’s
Unconditional Love,
opposite Robson Green
and Sarah Parish. The
fact that George can be
amoral at times endeared
the character to
Absolom."That’s
what makes him human,
the fact that his
relationships with
everyone in the house
aren’t clear cut. He’s
a rival of Will [first
footman William Forest]
but he’s also his
companion and good
friend.That’s what I
like about Lucy’s
writing – she never
paints characters black
and white," says
the actor. In Servants,
Lucy’s characters are
realistic, believable
and recognisable, says
Absolom."The way
the servants are
together reminds me of
that programme last
year, Lad’s Army, when
they put those young
blokes into barracks to
do National Service and
they went through thick
and thin together. At
the end of the day, all
they had for fun was a
piano in the mess and a
fantastic camaraderie,
which saw them through
it all. "I see we
servants like those
blokes. All day we’re
charging around, jumping
to orders and serving
the Earl, but as soon as
he falls asleep we relax
and sit around to have a
good banter.
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George’s
friendship and
professional rivalry
with William Forest is
dictated by his
relationship with
nursemaid Grace May.
"George turns up
just at the right time,
when Grace breaks up
with Keneally, the under
butler. He’s
interested in her
straight away and goes
after her on day one,
two, three, four and
five…" laughs the
actor. "George has
always been pretty
footloose and fancy-free
but then things develop
with Grace in a way that
he doesn’t
anticipate."
Absolom
has shown that he is no
shirker on the career
front.The actor is based
in Lewisham, where he
lives with his mum and
dad, and jokes that he
will have to leave home
soon before his parents
kick him out. His
success as EastEnder
Matthew Rose clearly
hasn’t gone to his
head and Absolom is
grateful for the break
and recognition the role
gave him. The actor
started working when he
was around 10 years old
and, for a few years, he
and his brother and
sister acted in
advertisements. His
siblings went off the
idea but he stuck with
it, and soon moved on to
speaking parts, which
were much more
enjoyable. He liked
going to the
auditions:"You’d
just turn up and read
scripts," he says,
matter-of-factly. His
hard work has paid off.
Now, he says, he can’t
believe his luck.
"What other
profession allows you
such a range of
experience and
fun?" he asks.
"I’ve been
air-lifted to safety,
chased by the police,
shot at, stabbed and, in
this drama, we’ve
skinny-dipped in
February!
"Making
Servants has been a real
laugh," he says.
"It’s been a
great opportunity to
enjoy tremendous scripts
and there’s been loads
of socialising with
everyone on the
shoot." The actor
reveals that the cast
are off again tonight to
The Famous Old Duke,
where the born-and-bred
Londoner is trying to
acquire the taste for
West Country cider. But
tomorrow, in between
scenes and during their
lunchtimes, he and his
"footmen
colleagues" will be
straight back to their
latest, decidedly
21st-century, craze:
PlayStation 2.
 Felicity
Jones plays Lord Harry’s
nursemaid, Grace May,
later to become fifth
housemaid
Beautiful, clever and
sharp, Grace May is
practical, resilient and
determined. She
understands the
ambitions and
ruthlessness of the
servants around her, but
she has always believed
that there is more to
life than the daily
drudge and acquisition
of power and money.
Nineteen-year-old
actress Felicity Jones
is no stranger to
working in country
houses. As Emma Carter
in the world’s
longest-running radio
drama, Radio 4’s The
Archers, she works in
the shop at Loxley Hall.
In fact, explains Jones,
Emma Carter’s accent
helped her gain the role
of Grace May.
"Luckily for me,
the production team wasn’t
looking for pronounced
olde-worlde accents –
they were after
something much softer.
"Apparently, in
those days, the servants
came from all over the
country, so below stairs
would be a melting-pot
of accents and dialects.
Accents probably wouldn’t
have stayed really
strong and must have
merged a bit and,
fortunately, Emma’s
West Country accent fits
the bill."
The
young, gently spoken
actress is clearly
thrilled to have landed
the part of Grace and
has conscientiously
researched the period in
which the drama is set.
"I’ve really
enjoyed reading about
lives back then, and our
historical advisor
Pamela Sambrook’s
book, The Country House
Servant, is full of
wonderful insights.What
really comes through is
how little we’ve
changed and I think Lucy
really captures that
brilliantly in her
scripts." Jones’s
enthusiasm for drama
began at an early age
and was consolidated
when she joined the
Carlton Television
Junior workshop in her
hometown of Birmingham.
Her first break came as
a schoolgirl, when she
played Alice Bastable in
The Treasure Seekers,
but her best-known role
from her school days was
as Ethel Hallow in The
Worst Witch and its
sequel, Weird Sister
College, both successful
television adaptations
of Jill Murphy’s
children’s books. But
juggling a burgeoning
acting career with
school work caused few
problems for the
talented Jones, who has
always kept up with her
local friends and
enjoyed a good social
life. She does admit,
however, that it has
been stressful from time
to time. "I suppose
it’s wanting
everything and learning
how to balance
responsibilities and fun
without letting anyone
down," she says
with a maturity that
belies her years. Jones
is full of admiration
for her character.
"I don’t think I
could do what she does
– having to get up at
4am to light all the
household fires and
coping with the loss of
her position as
nursemaid. Sometimes,
acting feels like really
long hours but then you
look at the length of
the servant’s day and
it’s humble pie time.
"We’ve all had
great fun making this
drama – I’ll be
sorry when filming ends.
I’ve even got used to
wearing a corset 10
hours a day. I shall
miss all the fun and
games we’ve had on and
off set."
 Kenny
Doughty plays first
footman William Forest
William Forest is the
most senior of the
footmen. He has
done well to achieve the
position so young, but
he is becoming impatient
for promotion.
It
was the quality of the
Servants scripts that
attracted actor Kenny
Doughty to the project.
"Lucy’s
storytelling is just
fantastic – it’s
energetic, compelling
and emotionally
charged," he says.
Doughty also applauds
the approach of the
creative team, who
tackled a period drama
from a new perspective,
putting the spotlight on
the
"underlings".
"It’s refreshing
to look at working-class
lives rather than those
of languid
aristocrats."
Doughty describes making
Servants as:
"Having a ball with
your mates on a
speedboat running at
full throttle. The pace
of the schedule has been
gruelling but I’ve
been a part of a
friendly and supportive
team.There are no egos,
no tantrums. Everyone’s
pulled together to get
the job done."
Doughty admits that he
undertook little
research before starting
filming … but felt it
his duty to try the
local West Country
cider. "It’s
called Black Rat and I
felt sure that William
would have had a taste
for it!"
Drinking
habits aside, there are
some aspects of William’s
character that Doughty
feels little connection
with."His attitude
to disability is ugly
and totally
unacceptable. He’s
also negative and sexist
when it comes to women,
but we have to remember
he’s from another
period. Lucy writes with
such immediacy that it’s
easy to forget we’re
in the 1850s," he
comments. "William
is a real challenge to
play and we see him go
on a dark psychological
journey. I love getting
my teeth into
multi-layered, realistic
characters with
conflicts to
solve."
Doughty
compares the footman’s
life to playing in a
football team. "The
enemy of both is time.
The two professions
demand athletic prowess
and finely tuned skills,
which inevitably
diminish with time. This
means that, despite the
camaraderie and pulling
together of teamwork,
scratch the surface and
everyone’s out for
himself. It’s a
dog-eat-dog world. Life
has made William selfish
and tough and afraid of
emotion and tenderness
– traits he sees as
weak.Women equal
conquest, so it’s not
surprising that he has
no female friends!"
Doughty,
a graduate of London’s
Guildhall School of
Music & Drama,
clearly does not have
such a cutthroat
attitude to life.
"I’ve had lucky
breaks that have enabled
me not only to travel,
but to work across
television, film and
theatre. William’s
been stuck in the same
job and in the same
place for seven years!
The only downside of my
freedom are those
inevitable periods away
from my home and my
girlfriend."
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