JEREMY Musson was the most curious of house guests on TV and he makes the grandest of guides as he introduces us to the life of the servant in country houses, great and small.

All these houses depended upon the services of menials to run efficiently, from the naughtiest of butlers to the most junior of maids, and it is their story he tells with the aid of unpublished letters, memoirs, diaries and personal interviews.

Musson will put a twinkle in your eye on the dullest of days with his revelations.