To the Manor Born
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| To the Manor Born | |
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 Main title caption |
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| Genre | Sitcom |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Creator(s) | Peter Spence |
| Starring | Penelope Keith Peter Bowles Angela Thorne John Rudling Daphne Heard Michael Bilton |
| Country of origin | UK |
| Original channel | BBC |
| Original run | 30 September 1979–29 November 1981 |
| No. of episodes | 21 (List of episodes) |
| IMDb profile | |
To the Manor Born was a popular and high-rating British sitcom which ran for a total of twenty-one episodes over three series between 1979 and 1981. Most episodes were written by Peter Spence with the final episode being written by Christopher Bond, the script associate. In 2004, it came 21st in Britain's Best Sitcom.
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[edit] Background
Peter Spence originally wrote To the Manor Born for radio and a pilot was recorded. It starred Penelope Keith as Audrey and Bernard Braden as the new American owner. This was never transmitted, and it was decided it would be better suited to television. The scripts were then written and some minor changes, like the new owner of the Manor becoming Czech not American, were made [1]. The series had themes such as class snobbery, xenophobia, and the role of the landed gentry in conserving the rural environment and traditions
[edit] Cast
- Penelope Keith - Audrey fforbes-Hamilton
- Peter Bowles - Richard DeVere (Bedrich Polouvicka)
- Angela Thorne - Marjory Frobisher
- Daphne Heard - Mrs. Maria Polouvicka (Mrs Poo)
- John Rudling - Brabinger
- Michael Bilton - Old Ned
- Gerald Sim - The Rector
- Anthony Sharp - Brigadier Lemington OBE
- Daphne Oxenford - Mrs. Patterson
- Betty Tucker - Mrs. Beecham
- Joyce Windsor - Mrs. Plunkett (series 1)
- Nicholas McArdle - Miller (series 1 and 2)
- Jonathan Elsom - J.J. Anderson (series 1 and 3)
- Dennis Ramsden - Arnold Plunkett (series 1 and 3)
- Ben Aris - Mr. Spalding (from series 2)
[edit] Plot
To the Manor Born was set in the fictional village of Grantleigh, and the series started with the funeral of the Lord of the Manor, Marton fforbes-Hamilton . His widow and cousin[2], Audrey, plans to take control of the estate, but her solicitor, Arnold Plunkett soon tells her she will have to sell up to pay off Marton's debts. At the subsequent auction, she doesn't have enough money to buy back the Manor. The buyer turns out to be Richard DeVere, the recently-widowed nouveau riche owner of the Cavendish Foods supermarket chain. Audrey is even more horrified when she discovers he was born Bedřich Polouvicka, and his father was Polish and his mother Czech. He and his mother , who was affectionately called Mrs Poo, came over from Czechoslovakia in 1939.
Audrey soon moved into the "Old Lodge", the "rabbit hutch" at the end of the Manor's driveway. She was accompanied by her loyal and elderley butler, Brabinger. Her best friend Marjory Frobisher, had her eyes on DeVere from when he first moved in to the Manor. The programme focused on the developing relationship between Audrey and Richard. It also showed Audrey trying to teach Richard the concept of noblesse oblige and her trying to come to terms with her new status. Other characters included the farm labourer Old Ned, Brigadier Lemington, a friend of Audrey's, the local Rector, the cook Mrs Beecham and the owner of the local shop Mrs Patterson. Other minor characters included the farm foreman Miller, the farm manager Mr Spalding and the estate agent JJ Anderson.
[edit] Episodes
To the Manor Born ran for three series and one Christmas Special from 30 September 1979 to 29 November 1981. The show took its name from a pun on the line to the manner born in Shakespeare's Hamlet.
[edit] Viewing figures
The last episode was watched in the UK by 24 million viewers, the highest audience ever for a programme in the country at the time and still in the Top 5 all time UK audience figures. The series had been immensely popular throughout its three year run, regularly pulling in high audiences and sometimes over 20 million viewers in its Sunday night slot.
[edit] Location
Grantleigh and the nearby town of Marlbury are both fictional Somerset settlements. The exterior shots, as well as some interior shots, were filmed on the Cricket St Thomas estate in Somerset. The Manor House was then owned by the father-in-law of the writer Peter Spencer. Despite the closeness depicted on screen, the Manor and Lodge are in fact about one mile apart in real life[3]. In addition, the lodge was given additional features such as gateposts to give the impression it was a gatehouse.
[edit] Novelisations
The writer Peter Spence wrote two books that accompanied To the Manor Born. While they were based on the TV episodes, both books did differ with added conversations, changed storylines and the characters being given different personality traits. The first book, published in 1979 by Arrow Books, was titled To the Manor Born and was based on the first series. In this book, Brabinger's first name, which is never mentioned in the TV series, was revealed as Bertram and Ned's surname revealed as Peasgood. The second book, called To the Manor Born Book 2 was published by the same publisher in 1980. This was a novelisation of the 1979 Christmas Special and the second series. Both books in parts differed from the TV episodes
[edit] Radio
Sixteen years after To the Manor Born ended on television, it was remade for radio, the medium it was originally intended for. It broadcast on BBC Radio 2 and consisted of ten episodes, six were adapted from the TV scripts and four new ones. It ran from 25 January to 29 March 1997. While Penelope Keith and Angela Thorne reprised their TV roles, many others didn't or, in the case of Daphne Heard, John Rudling, Michael Bilton and Anthony Sharp, were now deceased. Keith Barron played Richard, Margery Withers played Mrs Poo, Nicholas McArdle, who had played Miller in the TV series, played Brabinger and the Rector, Frank Middlemass played Ned and Arnold Plunkett and Jonathan Adams played the Brigadier.
[edit] Episodes
- Rhythms of the Earth (25 Jan 97)
- The Grapevine (1 Feb 97)
- What's In A Name? (8 Feb 97)
- Vive Le Sport (15 Feb 97)
- Sons of the Fathers (22 Feb 97)
- A Wife's Prerogative (1 Mar 97)
- The Spare Room (8 Mar 97)
- An Englishman's Home (15 Mar 97)
- The Honours List (22 Mar 97)
- Plenty More Fish (29 Mar 97)
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ "To the Manor Born, The Radio Programme", British TV Resources.
- ^ "To the Manor Born", Arrow Books, 1979.
- ^ "British Sitcom Guide Page".
