Duchess of Duke Street Behind the Scenes

The Real Duchess

Louisa Trotter is based on Essex-born Rosa Lewis , the daughter of traders who sent her into the domestic services as a girl. The young Lewis learnt French cuisine and won favour with Edward VII as word of her culinary talent spread. As her wealth grew, she eventually bought London 's prestigious Cavendish Hotel, which is called the Bentinck in the show.

The painstaking detail given to the recreation of Edwardian England in The Duchess of Duke Street - filmed in 1976 - was a mark of producer John Hawkesworth 's dedication to authenticity. He even employed a cookery adviser for The Duchess who prepared dishes in his own kitchen and rushed them across London to the studios everyday for filming.

Series' producer John Hawkesworth read History at Oxford and took part in the Normandy invasion with the Grenadier Guards. He studied art under Picasso in Paris and went into film in 1948, working as art director on The Prisoner and The Man Who Never Was later on. Extraordinarily, he actually knew the real-life Duchess, Rosa Lewis , before her death in 1952.

Gemma Jones, the actress who plays Louisa, is from a family of actors, including father Griffith Jones and brother Nicholas Jones . Her diverse roles have stretched from playing Mrs Dashwood in the BBC's Sense and Sensibility to Bridget Jones' mum in both films. She also appears in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets as Hogwarts nurse Madam Pomfrey!

The Duchess is celebrated by aficionados of the Edwardian age as a great work, but it was the producers' predecessor, Upstairs, Downstairs, that is truly iconic. The acclaimed series, about a family and their servants in London 's Belgravia, aired from 1971 and is estimated to have been seen by one billion people in 40 countries! Fans wanting more flock to the Duchess of Duke Street.