To the Manor Born

I remembered watching a few episodes of this show in the 1980s on PBS Channel 13. It was the first time I was exposed to a British comedy and I thought it was rather quaint and sweet. I always regretted that I never watched the whole series. Well, to my joy, I found this show at my local library! My husband and I watched the whole show and we were both extremely amused by Audrey fforbes-Hamilton and Richard DeVere. The comedy is very sophisticated. This kind of show appeals to intelligent people. There is nothing risque or low brow about this show. The actors all had wonderful comic timing and the episodes and dialogue extremely well-written. There was a nice sexual tension between the main characters but nothing overt or vulgar. This show leads up to a delicious ending that had me cheering and wishing the show will continue! I am very satisfied how this show ended. It was just too wonderful!

One thing I want to add, Peter Bowles, as well as a very funny actor in an understated way, is extremely good looking and debonair on this show. I still remembered the fashions from the 1970s and I thought they were awful, too many polyester suits! Well, on this show, the clothing represents the best of 1970s fashion. Peter Bowles cuts quite a wonderful, handsome figure in his 1970s suits and I was surprised at how well velvet looks on him!

Fresh from her success in the BBC sitcom "The Good Life", Penelope Keith ("Audrey") is the lady of "Grantleigh" - a Gloucestershire stately pile she shares with husband "Martin". The first of the 22 episodes informs us that he has died, and that her world is about to be turned upside down. He squandered all the "fforbes-Hamilton" family money and she is going to have to sell up! The auction ensues and this estate, which they have managed for 400-odd years, ends up in the hands of a self-made millionaire Czech immigrant "Richard de Vere" who made his money in supermarkets. Imagine - it's almost sacrilegious to her! Anyway, the remainder of the series' depict their constant sparring; she the superior, broke, aristocrat; he the nouveau riche upstart. Essentially a two hander, there are a couple of fun foils: "Marjorie" (Angela Thorne) her down-trodden best friend; her stoic butler "Brabinger" (John Rudling) and his mother, the wonderful Daphne Heard ("Mrs. Polouvicka") who has an old Czechoslovakian saying for every situation, and they all keep the well written comedy flowing well. It's a very British thing, this - I doubt if the humour will travel particularly well, but at the time up to 24 million of us watched their drama unfold. The combination of snobbery, pomposity and witty repartee from the pen of Peter Spence really clicks. The characters, gently stereoptyped as they are, work really well with a sophistication that endures still.

The setting is in a fictional English village, Grantleigh, residing inside the fictional town of Marlbury in Somerset, England. The locals in this quaint countryside are a bit quirky. In the first scene, Richard DeVere (Peter Bowles), a stranger to the town and among the "nouveau riche", meets the town Vicar at the local parish church to ask for directions and where he might meet Mr Forbes-Hamilton. To which the Vicar replies, that Mr Forbes-Hamilton "will be here at any moment now (but) I doubt you'll get much out of him." And then Mr DeVere sees some pall-bearers carrying a casket. From the get-go, this is the kind of irreverent yet refreshing humour which permeates the entire show.

Mr DeVere is looking for some real estate to buy in the area and learns that the manor house is owned by the late Mr Forbes-Hamilton and his opinionated and talkative wife, Audrey. Audrey Forbes-Hamilton (Penelope Keith) is a fast-talking aristocrat who would tell a perfect stranger he looks retched because he bought his clothes at the British-equivalent of Sears. Her family, the Forbes-Hamilton's, have lived in the manor house in the English countryside since the time of Queen Elizabeth I. After laying her husband to rest, she tells the vicar that it was a "lovely funeral, we must have another one sometime." Now she has to sell the manor because of debts. And who should buy the manor but Ricard DeVeer, the new stranger who is not only wealthy and non-aristocrat but was "dressed like a chessboard" according to Audrey at the funeral reception. He then makes an unexpected offer: Audrey may continue to reside at the manor if she wishes, and she accepts the offer, beginning one of the more entertaining sitcom's of its type. DeVeer and Mrs. Forbes-Hamilton become sort of reluctant bedfellows in a kind of clash of the classes, in this case old aristocracy versus bourgeoisie.

A delightful British comedy in which the many lines are simultaneously unexpected and yet fit each character's personality. Peter Bowles plays "straight-man" to the quirky characters of the town. But it's the sharp-tongued Penelope Keith as Audrey Forbes-Hamilton who steals the show. Keith is perfectly cast as Audrey whose biting rhetoric would give any politician significant cause to run and hide under a nearby bed. Not to be missed if you like British comedy of this sort.

To the Manor Born is a classic and unmistakably English sit-com, with all the wit and intelligence you'd expect of good old British humour.

Penelope Keith does what she does best, in sheer style, portraying Audrey Fforbes-Hamiltion (NEVER Audrey F-H), a recently widowed and infinitely upper class traditionalist, whose steely determination makes her attitudes very difficult to change. That is, until the self-made millionaire and grocery shop extraordinary (not to mention foreign) Richard De Vere assumes residence of the stately home in which Audrey has resided (as the title suggests) since birth, after she is forced to sell her pride and joy.

Unsurprisingly, Audrey takes an instant dislike to this social upstart, an instinct which appears mutual, as Richard is driven to distraction by his predecessor's constant putdowns (which are in a league of their own) and persistent interference in his running of her beloved Grantleigh Estate. However, Richard's dear mother, Mrs Poo has other ideas about the pair, and resolves to bring her son around to her way of thinking.

Although from the word go you know this initial 'hate' relationship is going to end in the discovery of true love, and you may be thinking 'change the record', but theres just this incredible 'Je ne sais quoi' about these two characters, when they are together, that is just so captivating. For those of you who still remain unconvinced, its well worth watching for Audrey's rather unorthodox suggestion at the end.

When I first watched To The Manor Born one Friday night on my local PBS afilliate, I was immediately hooked from the start! In this British sit-com, Penelope Keith plays Audrey Forbes-Hamilton a charismatic and independent widow who might have to leave her stately manor that her family had lived in for years only to find out it's now being owned by Richard Devere (Peter Bowles) an owner of a supermarket chain, and not to mention a widower. I enjoy all the other characters in this like The Rector, and I haven't seen an episode I didn't like!

I really enjoy watching Audrey's and Richard's relationship develop. They're like the Emma Peel and John Steed of the show, in the fact that when they interact, they just don't know how they feel about each other! What makes this show so intriguing is it's high-brow sophisticated humor, the characters, and the in-depth storylines.

To The Manor Born is an impeccable British sit-com that deserves to be watched by anyone who's a fan of British humor. It's a lot better than the garbage they have on nowadays. :)