This Article also from bbc.com:
Servants is bold and irreverent, written by Lucy Gannon who's known for such TV hits as Soldier, Soldier, Bramwell, Hope and Glory and Insiders. Set below stairs in a country house in 1850s England, the drama focuses on the ambitions of the servants who make the household work.

Servants enters Taplows, the Struges Borne family seat, not through the elegant facade of it's portico but by the back stairs. Like the scenes depicted in Oscar-winning film Gosford Park, life below stairs is a hive of activity and a hidden, yet thriving, community.
Intrigue, rivalry, secrets, laughter and love are all present - and portrayed by a cast including Joe Absolom (Stan the Man, EastEnders) as second footman, Orla Brady (Pure Wickedness) as housekeeper, Christopher Fulford (Detox opposite Sylvester Stallone) as head butler, Kenny Doughty (The Second Coming) as first footman, and Felicity Jones (The Worst Witch) as nursemaid and housemaid.
The drama is directed by Tim Whitby and Hettie Macdonald. Whitby previously directed award-winning Cold Feet.Writer Lucy Gannon was concerned with what really mattered to the early Victorian working classes and how they lived. "What's really interesting about this era is that it was before Queen Victoria lost Albert and went into interminable mourning. There wasn't that air of po-facedness about this time, the sort of pious uprightness that we think of as typically Victorian".
Gannon goes on to state that, "What is a real eye-opener is how very similar ordinary people were to us today. Despite social and economic restrictions, they were fun, loving and aspirant. Their language is colourful and energetic, splattered with swear words. It is notable how many choice words haven't changed over the years!."