The new PBS reality show “Manor House” puts successful businesspeople into roles as servants in Victorian England.                        —All photos ©2003 PBS

By Daniel Dullum
Spectrum staff writer

If good help seems hard to find in the 21st century, imagine how difficult it was toward the end of the Victorian era in Great Britain, especially if the servants had been today’s twentysomethings accustomed to answering to no one.

One modern family and 12 volunteers decided to find out for themselves with the cameras of Britain’s Channel 4 there to capture the experience. The result is “Manor House,” a PBS combination of reality TV and living history which airs locally on KVIE-TV (Channel 6) at 8 p.m. April 28-30.

The six-episode series will be repeated at 3 p.m. and 4 p.m. April 29-30 and May 1.

All participants live as they would have lived in England at the dawn of the 20th century, learning first-hand about what it means to be master and servant, with fascinating results.

Masters of the manor are Sir John Olliff-Cooper, 56, a self-employed businessman, and Lady Anna Olliff-Cooper, 52, an emergency room doctor. Also living the good life are their sons, Master Guy, 9, and Mister Jonathan, 18, and Anna’s sister, Arvil Anson, 50.

“I don’t subscribe to the idea that a servant is as good as his master,” Sir John, who enjoys Edwardian-style fishing trips, said. “I prefer a society in which a servant looks at his master, admires his master, and may even try to improve himself to the extent he becomes a master.”

“You are Cinderella, and you are going to the ball. And it’s been magical,” said Lady Offiff-Cooper. “I do think it would take time to get over my guilt at having people do things for me. But having adapted to a life of pleasure and leisure, how would I ever return to the grind of normality?”

Hugh Edgar, a 64-year-old architect, once was employed by King Hussein of Jordan, designing royal residences and a mausoleum mosque for Hussein’s wife.

“I’m interested in class and the relations between the classes,” Edgar said. “Having got to know a marvelous butler when I was architect for King Hussein, I always wondered what it would be like to be a butler myself.”

Jean Davies, 60, is a grandmother who once ran a restaurant with her husband, Peter, who she won’t be seeing for three months.

“On the wall of my house I have a picture of my grandmother, who was Edwardian,” Davies said. “All my life, I’ve looked at that picture and thought, ‘I want to be like her. I want to be Edwardian.’”

Of the servants, Edgar and Davies have it best. The two worst positions are that of hall boy and scullery maid.

Lucy Garside, an 18-year-old waitress, signed on as the scullery maid, with duties including scouring and scrubbing more than 400 knives, forks, pots and pans daily.

“I don’t know if I can hack it,” Garcide confessed. “I need a bath, my hair is all icky, and there’s one bath a week? It’s a huge house and I’m confined to this one small space. I’m probably never going to go outside.

“I’m not a spoiled brat, but I’m used to my mum doing my cooking and cleaning,” she continued. “I go out at night time and don’t worry about getting up in the morning.”

“Lucy is a bit of an egomaniac,” first footman Charlie Clay, a 23-year-old sales manager, observed. “I think, the drama queen. … A lot of tears, a lot of boyfriend talk.”

“She’s scared of the dark. She won’t even go to the ice house to clean it,” said Rob Daly, the second footman and a genetics graduate.

The average scullery maid in the Victorian era lasted around two years. Lucy Garside lasted two days, leaving in such a hurry that she left her belongings behind.

“She really didn’t know what she was coming to, and it was a shock to her,” said Rebecca Smith, 29, participating on the show as first housemaid. “We all knew what our roles were going to entail. We all knew it was going to be hard work. She had no clue.”

“What’s the matter with the young ones?” Edgar asked rhetorically. “What did they think they were going to do here? Have fun?”

The lowest of the low servants is 18-year-old Kenneth Skelton, the hall boy. A nursing home caregiver in real life, Kenny signs on for the worst job for the males. He must carry coal, polish boots, and be the go-fer for everyone.

Skelton also is the one servant who does not have his own quarters. He must sleep in a Murphy bed in the hallway.

“I don’t know what I’ve let me self in for. I think I’ve walked into a bit of a nightmare,” Skelton said.

In the second episode, the servants face the challenge of putting on a major banquet for real aristocracy. Further episodes explore the servants’ revolt, a controversial weekend shooting party, Edwardian era excesses, and a bittersweet epilogue in which two of the lower servants are caught doing more than the domestic chores.

In the kitchen, tempers are getting short by the second episode, while life upstairs isn’t as tranquil as it appears.

“If I even have to listen to one more conversation of etiquette, I will scream!” said Lady Oliff-Cooper.

And there were 45 days left to go.

For KVIE-TV programming information, visit www.kvie.com.