The Rakes Club is obviously a thinly-disguised version of the Playboy Club with Foxes rather than Bunnies wearing analogous provocative costumes. The plot is set in the early 60's as the first of the Playboy clubs opened in Chicago in 1960.
Brendan Coyle and Clare Calbraith who play Mr and Mrs Donovan, owners of the Foxes Club, both appeared in Downton Abbey. Coyle played Bates, valet to Robert Crowley, Earl of Grantham and Calbraith played one of the maids and Grantham's sidepiece for a short period of time.