The Edwardian Country House

"Manor House," as it was called in the U.S., is without a doubt the smartest, classiest, best reality show ever produced. You may think that's not hard -- and you'd be right -- but I was amazed at how well-done this show was.

It was interesting, educational, dramatic and funny. How many shows can you say that about? The interactions between the servants and the family were just fascinating. Some of the people -- especially Mr. Edgar, the butler -- were absolutely amazing in their sincere efforts to play their roles properly.

The show is now available on DVD. If you enjoy good reality TV (such as PBS' earlier show "The 1900 House"), rent it. You won't be sorry.

Hugh Edgar, a retired architect, was a true `method actor'. He didn't just act the Butler, he became the butler. Some of the younger staff seemed unwilling to accept everything they had signed up to. Even the Master of the House wanted to bring in the 21st century if it made him even more comfortable. That made the series more interesting. Not just a glimpse into history but a look at how self-centred we and the younger generation have become.

Edgar relaxed his mask only for one scene on the last day, adding to its humour and showing the series' raison d'être.

An off-putting title, but a fascinating and unmissable series.

I really think this was a neat little special. Being on the poor side, I could really identify with the suspicion of the downstairs staff towards the upstairs family. I found the patriarch to be disdainful and I really could see the pain in the matriarch's homely sister. I'd like to speculate that most of society today is more kin to the upstairs family, but I could definetely see the rewards that came as being part of the downstairs staff; there wasn't time for many of today's ills: depression, boredom, isolation, et al. The most intriguing player was the first butler's aide, Charlie Clay. By God, he's the most handsome man I've seen since Tom Cruise in Losin' It. Will we see more him? Overall, 9 stars.

I have never watched any of the crop of "reality" tv shows because none of them seem realistic, or worth watching. This show (called Manor House on PBS in the US) was some of the more entertaining 6 hours of TV I've seen in a while. The idea is to try and take modern people and have them live as they did in the start of the 20th century - the family in the house, and their servants. Since they didn't really want to replace people mid-show, some of the strict rules of conduct of that period were not as enforced as strongly as they would have been - ie. people didn't get sacked when they should have.

The show gave an insight as to how appreciative the "servants" are of the way society changed in the 20th century...especially two of the cast members who had relatives who were in service like this.

My only real complaint was that they seemed to repeat things from episode to episode to make sure you understood something. Watching the whole thing over three nights made this redundant commentary annoying. I would have prefered to have seen more interaction between the family and the head servants, and between the servants than the constant voice over about the duties and shots of people working.

Watching this also changes the way you watch Gosford Park.

Reality TV is not for me or so I used to think after not being able to endure more than five minutes of American Idol or Bachelor or Survivor. Until I chanced upon "Manor House" on PBS while channel surfing Sunday afternoon -- the first episode was just beginning -- and was hooked for six hours as they showed the entire series.

This is brilliant television, I've never seen anything like it. Not only was it extremely interesting and informative, it was great fun. The characters were so genuine. Most played their parts perfectly. Loved Sir John, the born aristocrat, who one week into the thing talks about the "clarity of the system... the poor will always be with us... Jesus said so, he couldn't be wrong". This is genuine, matchless stuff! The Lady talking about the undergarments of the time, shyly, a little naughtily, and wasn't her use of euphemisms just perfect? Also the butler, another genuine chap.

That said, I would have loved to see: (1) Less of the reality-TV-like romance (2) More of the cook in general, and more of his argument with Sir John (3) Less and more of the tutor - most scenes he was in were boring, but OTOH his homosexuality which would be obvious even in 1900 was not addressed or even mentioned (4) More information about the actors' real lives.

In any case despite its flaws, it's really light years better than your average reality TV. Forget Survivor, this is the real thing.