Capturing ‘real’ Downton Abbey at Chatsworth

The Duke and Duchess of Devonshire

A new show airing in the UK next week might help with the Downton Abbey withdrawal...if you're lucky enough to like in the UK that is.

BBC1 is airing a the three part series starting Monday, May 14th called Chatsworth. It is a fly-on-the-wall series revealing the Upstairs-Downstairs lives of the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire and their staff.

The three-part series, which starts on Monday, was filmed over most of last year, and is being billed as a ‘real life Downton Abbey’.

The 12th Duke – Stoker to his friends – and Duchess are very much in front of the cameras, at one point joining the annual litter-pick over the estate before the season opens.

But the series will also focus on how they mix with employees.

Half a dozen staff members have been selected, including farm shop manager Andre Birkett who is mortified when the cameras are with him as he finds a pair of discarded underpants in the shop toilet...

The BBC say the series will show how the Duke, 68, and Duchess get involved with everything on their 30,000 acre Peak District estate, from the smallest detail to the £14m restoration project, only just completed.

Read more about the show here.