Downton Abbey:Behind the Drama (ITV1) Love it or hate it, Downton Abbey is the most successful UK drama for a decade and is the show on everyone’s lips, writes Deborah Stewart.

Last night viewers were given a backstage glimpse of the effort which goes into making the period drama with interviews with the cast and writer, the award-winning actor, Sir Julian Fellowes.

Based in the the early 1900s the storyline chronicles the lives and loves of the aristocratic Crawley family as the nation hits transition from a period when there were more domestic servants at the beck and call of the well to do than there were miners, into an new era of women’s rights and the rise of the trade unions.

The story starts when the family is thrust into turmoil when the male heir to the Downton fortune perished on the Titanic. In those days much importance was placed on having a son to inherit property and titles as women had few legal rights and wealth in most cases was passed down to sons, not daughters who had to hope for a good marriage.

This is the dilemma which befalls Lord Grantham, played by Hugh Bonneville, and his three bickering daughters. He is forced to contact a distant cousin Matthew Crawley, played by Dan Stevens, in an attempt to resolve the situation.

The series is reminiscent of the 1970s series Upstairs, Downstairs starring Gordon Jackson as the butler, but in a zippier style to suit modern tastes, which has given it such acclaim even the US is lapping it up. The second series which has the Great War as its backdrop, which we have already seen, is scheduled to start across the pond in the new year.

Fellowes makes no apology for using historical events and social conventions of the day to hang the script on, and it works with the help of the magnificent Highclere Hall where Downton is set. The writer has been accused of creating a “Coronation Street” type soap out of historical facts.

He even went so far as to say that the sex scandal surrounding Lady Mary, played by Michelle Dockery, had been based on a true story told to him by a relative who read it in a diary discovered at a very old house.

There were plenty of clips from both series, a peek into the wardrobe department where a team of six have the task of creating costumes for the family and servants plus the military uniforms. It was also revealed that the dramatic Somme battle scenes in the second series were actually shot in Suffolk.

It was refreshing to hear from some of the lesser known 33-strong cast members especially the downstairs actors who have much less glamorous sets and costumes to work in. Put upon cook Mrs Patmore, played by the gorgeous Lesley McNicol, and scullery maid Daisy, played by Sophie McShera, were both impressive. While Zoe Boyle, whose character Lavinia succumbed to Spanish flu admitted she was is heartbroken at leaving the sumptuous hit show.

Let’s hope Downton Abbey, which has a two-hour Christmas special, will carry on for a while longer just because we love watching it.