A MILTON Abbot firm set up 25 years ago to bring back the elegance of Edwardian times has had its goods featured in the new TV drama 'Mr Selfridge'.

Edwardian-style boxes made by the Empty Box Company take pride of place in the foyer of department store Selfridges, where much of the action takes place.

Millions of viewers have been tuning into the ITV drama, which tells the story of the founder of the world famous store, Harry Gordon Selfridge, and began on January 6.

The Empty Box Company was founded in Surrey by James Teague and Giselle Hulme when they left college, but the lions share of the business now takes place in Milton Abbot in a barn built by the couple five years ago.

They have been specialising in the niche market of Edwardian-style hat boxes but also make boxes for wedding dresses, dry cleaners and for any gift or occasion.

James said the company had created boxes for TV before, but most of the time it was a one-off box, like the one in an episode of 'Eastenders' two weeks ago, in which someone had their wedding dress cleaned and boxed.

'We make boxes for exhibitions, TV shows, opera and theatre but for Mr Selfridge we had an order for 120 hat boxes,' said James.

'When we make them we have no idea what they are used for and sometimes it can be up to 18 months before the show is produced.

'We sent the boxes for this production off a year ago and forgot all about them.

'It wasn't until my 17-year-old daughter saw a trailer for the show and spotted our boxes.

'There they were — a massive display — stacked high at the base of a sweeping staircase where people are up and down all the time.

'One of the reasons we started the company was to return to the charm of the Edwardian hat box which people used to display in their homes so to see them on this show is wonderful.'

The Empty Box Company employs nine people at its Milton Abbot workshop, makes around 600 boxes a week and supplies around 1,000 shops.

Not bad for a couple who scraped together £1,000 25 years ago to buy some stock and start production.

'It was really hard for a few years but we did it without the bank lending us any money,' said James.

'Our wish was to move down here to Devon like thousands of other people but five years ago we did that and now we produce 60% of our boxes here.'