Lord Kessler's House and Le Manoir

Another important location was Lord Kessler's house, the scene of Toby Fedden's 21st birthday party in episode one.

"That was at Wrotham Park*, which is in Barnet." says Patrick. "It's a beautiful house belonging to the Byng family. Still privately owned, but they rent out the main body of the house for private events and have filming there. We were trying to play off the different textures.

"The Manoir, Kessler's, the Feddens', they needed to look slightly different, so you got their different status in the world. It was all given a very rich feel, so their life immediately felt exclusive, and you suddenly entered into their world of money and the Thatcherite era.

The Feddens' holiday home of Le Manoir isn't really in France, Patrick reveals.

"It's a fantastic, beautiful house called Firle Place*, just outside Lewes, which is owned by Lord Gage. It was actually built in French stone, which his ancestors brought through the canals of France and shipped to England. We were initially thinking we might well have to go to France, but that was an amazing find, only an hour and a half's drive away. And Lord Gage could not be more helpful. He has beautiful family possessions all over the house and we were made incredibly welcome.

However, Patrick admits that a bit of location trickery was used in the poolside scenes.

"We shot that at Wrotham Park, because Lord Gage's pool didn't look French enough, whereas the pool at Wrotham Park looked a lot more French. So there's a little bit of cheat going on when they walk away from the pool and into the Manoir. It's really two hours drive and two weeks apart in filming time."