The Hardacres director didn't want to "play fast and loose" with historical accuracy

Director Rachel Carey explained that accuracy to the period was of paramount concern, but so too was showing audiences something that they "might not have seen before".

She explained: "I wanted the series to resonate with the present while honouring the past. It was a mantra for us. I didn't want to play fast and loose with historical accuracy.

"Instead, I focused on showing people the historical details they might not have seen before, in a truthful and cinematic way.

"It’s a rags to riches drama, and it’s something that dealt with the working classes, which we don't tend to see as much in period dramas."

Carey continued: "I aimed for a cinematic realism that captured the warmth, entertainment, and energy of our characters."

One aspect of the Victorian era that audiences may not have seriously considered before is the experience of disabled people, with so many dramas depicting the era omitting what would have been a large proportion of the population.

The Hardacres co-star Zak Ford-Williams, who has cerebral palsy, explained: "It would have been so common – war injuries, poor health care, starvation... I think it's important to make sure we don't accidentally rewrite history and erase people by making everyone pretty and clean.

"It's really important to give people a proper look into what these periods were like for all sorts of people."

On the influences behind the series, Carey said that there weren't any existing TV shows and films that "exactly matched what we wanted to do", finding inspiration instead from another source entirely.

"I drew more inspiration from Victorian paintings and early photography from that time. They provided a real yet cinematic look into that era," she added.

"There was a huge movement of Victorian social realism in that time, where the poor were finally captured in photographs and paintings, and often it was kind of grim, but they also really showed the colourful, real life, and made a three-dimensional world which we don’t often get to see."

The Hardacres premieres tonight at 9pm on Channel 5.

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