Rating: 
Summary: One Of The Greatest British Comedies of All Time
Review: "To The Manor Born", is definately in my top 5 all-time favourite British comedies from any decade and I feel is the greatest piece of work ever accomplished by talented British actress Penelope Keith so far. As British as British can be, it is filled with marvellous characters, excellent writing, a near perfect scenerio for the talents involved and just enough commentary on the British Class System for all of us to see a little bit of ourselves in some of the situations that abound in this terrific series. Penelope Keith is the heart and soul of this production and never has there been a more perfect blending of an actresses personality and screen image with that of a created character.Produced between 1979 and 1981 "To The Manor Born", was unique in that the series provided self contained episodes with separate storylines that however developed the characters right up to the conclusion of the series when there was an actual final concluding story developed for the series to conclude on. In this way the series is like an extended "mini-series" and can be either enjoyed as individual episodes or as a longer viewing experience. "To The Manor Born", relates the story of recently widowed Audrey Fforbes-Hamilton, the blue blooded owner of Grantleigh Manor which has been in her late husband's family for 400 years. After the funeral Audrey, thinking all her birthdays have come at once suddenly is brought down to earth when she is informed that her late husband Martin was hoplessly in debt and that to cover the debts of the estate she has to sell the Manor. What makes a terrible situation like this even worse is that at the auction the ancestral home is purchased by none other than a certain Richard De Vere who turns out to Audrey's horror to be not only "trade", but shock of all shocks not even British! What develops over many episodes is the highly amusing sparring between Audrey, who moves down the drive to the old lodge intent on keeping an eye on De Vere's plans for the estate, and Richard who is determined to move up in the world to the sphere of "Landed Gentry". The two have many hilarious battles over the course of the series whether it be disputing Richard's proper role as "Lord of the Manor", fighting over who should run the annual Hunt Ball, trying not to loose face while purchasing a new horse or trying to upgrade the estate by removing the ancient hedgerows. "Saving face" is another theme which features in many episodes as the now cash strapped Audrey attempts to keep Richard in his proper place by pretending that "nothing has really changed" by such means as supposedly still taking her annual holiday to Spain while never actually leaving the estate or working out the right timing for writing cheques that are guaranteed to bounce! Naturally as the series develops the hate relationship between this oddly matched couple slowly turns to affection and then love at the nicely worked out conclusion. The many hilarious situations in this brilliant series are hugely aided by some of the best writing and actors to be assembled in any one British comedy in any decade. The subtle digs at the firmly entrenced British Class System will have you splitting your sides with laughter and Penelope Keith is wonderful portraying a character down on her luck who will not buge one inch for this "upstart grocer' who has invaded her secure world at Grantleigh Manor. Peter Bowles playing Richard has a difficult role as the straight man of the piece but does wonderfully up against the colourful Audrey portraying a man of humble background determined to climb the social ladder. "To The Manor Born",abounds with other terrific characters as well. Angela Thorne a well known face on British television plays Audrey's best friend and fellow conspirator against Richard, Margery Frobisher. Daphne Heard playing the delightful "Mrs. Poo", Richard's mother steals every scene she is in with her wonderful comic playing. The actors playing the various domestics on the program also add spark to the proceedings with special mention going to John Rudling as the very proper Brabinger, Audrey's manservant and especially Michael Bilton as old Ned, the estate handyman. If like myself you appreciate well written comedy then you cannot go past "To The Manor Born". The best way to purchase this great series is with the VHS boxed set which contains all the episodes uncut and in order. It also has the special treat of including the rarely seen 1979 Christmas episode which is not normally included in reruns and which is very funny indeed involving Audrey and Richard in a competition to provide the best Nativity Crib for the Parish Church. I highly recommend you spend some time enjoying this wonderful series which is as fresh today as it was when it was first aired in the early 1980s. Enjoy Audrey Fforbes-Hamilton down on her luck, battling the upstart grocer in the classic "To The Manor Born".
Rating:
Summary: Some are born great, some achieve greatness...
Review: 'To the Manor Born' is one of the better Brit-coms, witty and intelligent without being over-the-top or inaccessible. It has an oh-so-British tone to it, deliberately so, as it looks with grace and humour at the clash of cultures in modern Britain, the clash between tradition and modernity (finding out that neither is always what it seems), as well as the clash between social classes. All of this is done in such a light-hearted manor, er, manner, that one scarcely realises the biting and insightful satire that runs alongside the comedic situations.
The series begins as Audrey fforbes-Hamilton, a straight-backed, upper-crust woman of breeding who revels in her situation, is celebrating the funeral of her husband (yes, celebrating). Meanwhile, Richard Devere, wealthy (read, nouveau riche) financial officer heading a multinational conglomerate of food stores, arrives in the village in search of a classic gentleman's period home in the English countryside. As Audrey's husband was not one to keep up with the bills, she discovers that she is in fact bankrupt, and is forced to sell the manor. Richard Devere buys it at auction; Audrey is a surprising twist retains the estate's hunting lodge down the road, and the stage is set for the tensions between new homeowner and historical lady of the manor.
Supplementing the main characters are Audrey's best friend Marjorie, who variously has designs on Richard Devere, but these are almost always thwarted; Richard's mother, Mrs. Pu (Poluviska, actually, but the name is reduced for ease by Audrey); Ned, the traditional groundskeeper who helps keep the traditions alive with Audrey; and finally, Brabinger, the quintessential English butler, who relocates to the old lodge with his mistress Audrey, and always has a few suprises up his sleeve.
There are twenty-one episodes in all, filmed and broadcast over a two-year period in 1979-1981. These run from the start of Audrey's losing the manor through to her regaining the manor, along with the hand of Richard in marriage, but not by the means often expected throughout the series. Throughout the episodes, Audrey is constantly introduced to 'ordinary life', from having to rely on the National Health for her doctor rather than private-pay, personal service, to having difficulties in shopping in supermarkets (Devere's, as it turns out) and not being able to entertain as she once did, or go on holiday (this makes for perhaps the best episode of the lot, save for the first and final episodes). Meanwhile, Devere gets lessons in being lord of the manor by the ever-present Audrey, who counsels him on everything from horse-purchasing to community responsbilities. Despite his wealth, Audrey says, 'he is still at the bottom of it all a grocer.' This is a biting commentary -- the upper-class disdain for the working class is an undercurrent here, and the entitled/en-nobled folk in Parliament used to insult both Ted Heath and Margaret Thatcher, who were both children of shopkeepers, by using the term 'grocer' to describe them.
From the threadbare carpets to the when-we-were-in-India knick-knacks to the church clock that never worked properly, this is a wonderfully crafted comedy trip through a slice of British culture that is both past and future. These are not 'issues' episodes -- 'To the Manor Born' educates by stealth. One might be completely unaware of having been taught ways of acting and being. Grantley Manor is a perfect backdrop (shot in a town with the very English-sounding name of Cricket St. Thomas), and the actors are perfectly selected. Penelope Keith as Audrey fforbes-Hamilton has the kind of mannerisms and deadpan delivery befitting a displaced socialite; Peter Bowles has the blustering presence as a self-assured businessman flustered in his new environment. Old Ned (played by MIchael Bilton) and Brabinger (John Rudling) are perfected cast in both physical type and acting ability. Angela Thorne as Marjorie Frobisher, the life-long friend of Audrey, always in her shadow, is great as the 'straight man' against whom Audrey's humour unfolds.
The DVD release contains special features including bits about Penelope Keith and Peter Bowles, as well as excerpts from the late-90s radio broadcasts on BBC2.
This is a perfect show, certain to win the heart of any Anglophile.
Rating: 
Summary: Fascinating piece of British cultural history.
Review: As a comedy, 'To the Manor Born' was never particularly uproarious, even at the time. During especially lumbering episodes, you can imagine a young producer prodding audience members with a pole, such is the feeble muffle of the laughter. The inert primitivism of the comic drama is matched by a far more serious ridiculing of the labouring classes, all bumbling 'oo-ar' stereotypes that would have seemed far-fetched in Stella Gibbons' classic rural satire 'Cold Comfort Farm'. The sheen of glamour the country house setting should suggest is actually tatty and tarnished (budgetary stinginess?). The whole thing would actually be unwatchable if it wasn't for the relaxed skill and immense charm of the leads, Peter Bowles and Penelope Keith, King and Queen of British Light Entertainment. If it fails as comedy or romance, 'Manor' was of immense cultural importance. Made in the early years of the Thatcher administration, the programme aimed to reconcile two mutually conflicting ideals of British Conservatism - the centuries-old, tradition-bound, socially congealed yet communal, landed gentry, represented by Audrey fforbes-Hamilton, now economically and politically a dead duck, but receptacle for what so any believe is best and characteristic in British Culture; and the radical conservatism of the new regime, economically aggressive, socially fluid, rule-breaking, go-getting. In fact, the laissez-faire decentralising self-centredness of the latter was actually destroying the former, leading to anxieties this programme seeks to assauge. Beginning with a death and the disruptions of homelessness, the programme moves like a Shakespearean comedy towards political Hymen, playing out all the tensions and fears in between, crises about identity, class, nationality, gender, generations, home. In a superb, time-honoured allegory, the manor represents the nation, and the struggle beween Audrey and Richard is for its soul. As happened so often during the 1980s, the proletariat are bandied about like so many frayed shuttlecocks.
Rating:
Summary: Delightful series made luminous by Penelope Keith!
Review: Audrey fforbes-Hamilton (Penelope Keith) isn't mourning her unloved late husband much, because she now controls the Grantley Manor estate! Yet almost immediately, she learns the property must be sold to satisfy her husband's death. When it is sold to Richard DeVere (formerly named Polouvicka, as his aging mother still is) (played by Peter Bowles), owner of a grocery chain, she is shaken to see the land sold to someone (gasp) in trade, but her retreat takes her only as far as the Lodge, in good viewing distance of the Manor. From there, she will alternately assist and wage war on DeVere, who is determined to bring change to the Manor. And, as she learns that DeVere is not quite as unattractive as she thought, she wonders if marriage is not the quickest path back to the Manor and out of her financial woes . . . Penelope Keith makes this series. She convincingly plays an aristocrat brought on hard times, but never surrendering in any way. She is assisted not only by Bowles, but by a cast of supporting actors who bring to life rural England in this classy class-warfare comedy. The settings are beautiful, but the acting is exceptional. Highly recommended. Buy the boxed set to have the entire series plus one Christmas episode which is rarely shown on TV. Perhaps the best of the BritCom series.
Rating:
Summary: At Last!
Review: How could an overbearing snob, a mean-spirited xenophobe, and a woman rejoicing at the untimely death of her husband, be an appealing character? Penelope Keith in the hands of superb comedy writers is how. Anyone who, after venting about the inroads immigrants are forging into the English upper crust, can end the tirade with the line "England for the English, as we always used to say about India" is a character you're bound to like. While America was riveted to the unlikely romance that was unfolding on "Cheers" between Diane and Sam, our friends across the ocean were doing it their way with "To the Manor Born". But there was a key difference. Neither Diane nor Sam ultimately matured enough to make it work. The closest they came to self-awareness was in realizing in time that it couldn't work. Audrey (Penelope Keith) travels a different road as her awareness dawns that much of her reliance on heritage and breeding is simply filler for the absence of an abiding love in her life. The wit and good nature with which she slowly opens herself to this realization is what this wonderful series is all about. And what wit it is! . . . sophisticated, fast and sparse, politically and socially pungent, and ultimately humane. If you like gentle satire, elegaic comedy writing, first-rate comedic timing, subtle tongue-in-cheek delivery, and a cast of local eccentrics that'll make you want to sell everything and move to the English countryside, you'll like this series. It just doesn't get any better.
Rating:
Summary: Right up there with Yes Prime Minister!
Review: I was looking for another intelligent Britcom and decided to give this a try. What a pleasant surprise! I have to admit not being a fan of "Good Neighbors" nor did I care much for the character Penelope Keith played in that earlier series. But she is PERFECT as Mrs. fforbes-Hamilton. In fact this is about as well-cast a series as I've ever seen. I've let several friends borrow my tapes and they've all enjoyed them. To answer a question others seem to be asking, this gift set contains the entire set of 20 episodes - including the rare 1979 Christmas special. I sure wish they'd release this (and Yes Prime Minister) on DVD. Until then, we have this great gift set.
Rating:
Summary: My favorite Birtish Comedy
Review: I'd like to buy this gift set except there is no information on what is included. How many episodes? Is this the entire series or just part? The Brits do comedy better than anyone, and this is a gem. You can watch it over and over it's that good. I love their dry sense of humor.
Rating:
Summary: As witty as the first time I saw it in TV...
Review: It's so funny in it's way... (mock rural gentry and "new money"...)
Script and actors are vey good: wit + sense of humour + House&Garden and here you have it how we "B..... Foreigners" think England is or was... (as neat a parodie of "country" England as "The Quiet Man" 's Ireland...).
DEFINITLY RECOMMENDED AND TO BE ENJOYED AS "YES MINISTER" and other GREAT TV series of the Golden Age of BBC comedies etc.
Rating:
Summary: Bang Your Gavel, You Silly Man!
Review: Just one of the brilliant lines in this Britcom which has taken fa-a-a-ar too long to come out on DVD. What took so long? Great writing and great acting, sometimes even touching. One hopes that the equally marvelous GOOD NEIGHBORS comes out on DVD. Penelope Keith is as funny as Maggie Smith.
Rating:
Summary: It doen't get much better.....
Review: Many years ago, I caught the tail-end of one of the latter episodes of TO THE MANOR BORN on PBS and liked what I saw, which was enough to spur me to buy this series on DVD when it became available. I'm happy I did, it is more than worth the price. The two lead actors, Penelope Keith and Peter Bowles have appeared in many other BBC productions (Rumpole, Good Neighbors). I believe they are married in "real" life, and thus a commedic team ala Lucy and Desi or George and Gracie, though not as zany. Audrey Forbes-Hamilton (Keith) is a sophisticated snob and Richard Devere (Bowles) a self made immigrant whom Audrey deems not in her league, let alone worthy of Grantleigh Estate, her old ancestral home.
In the opening episode, the newly widowed Audrey is relishing the thought of being on her own without the husband she did not particularly care for. We learn in a later episode that the Forbes-Hamilton family has intermarried for generations and this might explain some of the peculiar behavior of Audrey and her Uncle who plays an important role in the last few episodes. Audrey soon discovers her now deceased husband kept a few secrets from her, such as the debt the estate had incurred using the "old" methods of managing an estate (keeping hedgerows for example). Devere buys Grantleigh at an auction, outbidding Audrey, who had secured a goodly amount from her relatives for the purpose of keeeping the estate "in the family".
After losing her home, we soon discover Audrey has taken up residence along with the ancient family butler Brabinger in the "lodge", a building on the estate just up the road from the manor house, where the hired help once lived. As Richard's new neighbor, Audrey continues to offer advice on how Grantleigh should be managed according to the rules of 'Noblesse Oblige.'
Fans of `Waiting for God' will recognize the actor who plays Audrey's "fill-in" butler as the man who played Basil Makepeace (Makepiece?) on the "Waiting for God" series. He "fills in" when Audrey's own butler is away visiting relatives, although from his appearance it seems he was probably pretty sick and they kept the role open for him. The GOD series was made in the early 1990s when Thatcherite changes were already in place, giving Diana Trent somethig to bash. (For those who may not remember -- Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan shared similar political positions and their legacies are similar:). MANOR was created in the 1980s and in many ways seems to be an attempt to understand and appreciate that not all business people are bad (just some of them) while taking pot shots at the British class system. Is it a coincidence that the "commoner" Devere (a miscreant in Audrey's eyes) has made his fortune as a grocer? Given Margaret Thatcher's origins, this allusion must have had a special appeal in the 1980s. By the end of the series, Audrey has learned a few things from Richard and `All's Well that Ends Well."
I highly recommend this series. I found it to be one of the best BBC/PBS series I've watched recently, and I am a huge BBC/PBS fan.
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