The final episode held the record until 1996 for the biggest-ever audience for a single programme on British TV, with an audience of over 27 million viewers. The record was broken 15 years later by the series Only Fools and Horses (1981) with 27.6 million viewers.
The manor house which was used as the filming location for Grantleigh Manor is 18th century Grade II listed building, Cricket St. Thomas, in Somerset, designed by Sir John Soane. It belonged to Peter Spence' father-in-law and now forms part of a country hotel with its own wildlife park. Spence lived on the estate shortly after getting married. Spence used the experience to write the series, providing an insider's knowledge of the lives of the gentry and the almost feudal way the estates worked. He was surprised to find that this lifestyle still existed.
The first name of Audrey's late husband was spelled "Marton", not "Martin". This unusual spelling, seen on his gravestone in Back to the Manor (1981), began as a typo when Peter Spence, the creator, was typing a copy of the original radio script on which the TV version was based. John Lloyd, the producer of the radio play, decided to keep this spelling because "the aristocracy are always mucking about with the spelling of things".
In 1997, sixteen years after the original series ended on television, ten thirty-minute episodes were recorded for radio, the programme's original intended medium. The episodes, originally aired on Saturdays on BBC Radio 2 from 25 January to 29 March 1997, were written by Peter Spence, six adapted from TV episodes and four new episodes. Penelope Keith and Angela Thorne returned as Audrey and Marjory, while Keith Barron replaced Peter Bowles as Richard. Other actors, including Frank Middlemass and Nicholas McArdle, who played Miller in the TV version, replaced many of the by then deceased original television cast members. The series has subsequently been repeated on BBC 7/BBC Radio 4 Extra. All ten episodes, collected, are now available for purchase on Audible and iTunes.
Angela Thorne's husband Peter Penry-Jones played Julian Gayforth in the final two episodes, as an opponent of Richard DeVere at Cavendish Foods.