Fans of post-World War One era costume drama are in for a treat this coming Friday with the start of an original eight-part production on BBC One: Lilies. The series follows the lives and first loves of three girls – Iris (Catherine Tyldesley) who makes chocolates, Ruby (Kerrie Hayes) who sells, and sometimes models, corsets, and May (Leanne Rowe), a parlour maid who becomes seduced by the glamorous world in which she works but which will remain forever beyond her grasp.

Their mercurial father Dadda is played by Brian McCardie (Rob Roy, Kidnapped, Murphy’s Law, Low Winter Sun)

The strong cast, which includes Stephen Moyer, Scot Williams, Iain McKee, Georgia Taylor, Kenneth Cranham, Pam Ferris and Gillian Kearney depict a sensual, vivid and sometimes savage universe – where life is lived on the breadline yet fuelled by various kinds of love.

* Lilies, BBC1, 9pm Friday 12 January