Rating: 
Summary: Wonderful series, a true gem
Review: My family bought this series because we enjoyed Penelope Keith so much as Margot Ledbetter in Good Neighbors. I must say that though I enjoyed Good Neighbors, I liked this series much better.Penelope Keith plays Audrey fforbes-Hamilton, a new widow whose family has owned Grantleigh Estate for 400 years. Much to yher snobbish dismay, she is forced to auction the house to cover her late husband's death. The manor is bought by Richard DeVere (Peter Bowles). He is charming and well intentioned but he is (gasp!) in trade and (double gasp!) of Eastern European descent. He naturally makes many a faux pas trying to settle into his new home. He and Audrey are attracted to one another but they are both too set in their ways. He is too blue collar, she is too blue blood. Every episode in the series involves one of Audrey's plots. Either to win Richard, control him, snub him or put him in his place. To make money, to wrangle her way back into the manor, to run the Girl Guides or to save the town's railway station. She is aptly described by another character as a female bossy boots. And a very amusing one, I must add. Richard is usually caught unprepared by the Audrey onslaught but he wins a few battles himself. It's all great fun. While it is easy to make a big deal of the two very talented lead actors, the supporting cast is also very good. The slippery vicar; Audrey's mousy best friend Marjory; the grumpy shop keeper; and Richard's mother "Mrs. Pooh" are all great character actors and greatly add to the overall series. Unlike many sit-coms, To the Manor Born has something of a linear plot line. (Though not so much of one that you cannot watch an episode on it's own) And it has an actual ending. A very nice one too. The humor style is quite British so if you are not a fan of Brit-coms, you probably won't like it. If you feel you will like the series, I encourage you to buy the complete set rather than piece meal. Partly because of the linear plot line and partly because you will be hungry for more. This is a great series for snow days and when you are under the weather. It is suitable for children and very amusing for adults.
Rating:
Summary: As witty as the first time I saw it in TV...
Review: OK, probably some "extras" would have been a bonus, as DVD's goes it really is sparse... (THIS REVIEW REFERS TO THE UK RELEASES!)
But, it's so funny in it's way you really do not need any extras at all...
I have already the second part of the series and I would like to know when others (and specially the last one) will be on the market...
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 rural 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: Penelope Keith at her BEST......
Review: One of my fondest memories of childhhod was our local PBS station continuously playing "Good Neighbors" reruns. That cast was perfect and the show a classic, but the person who stood out for me was Penelope Keith. She just stole every scene she was in. Quite recently I discovered "To The Manor Born" at my local library in their video department and was so happy to see that this series starred Miss Keith as well. I checked out as many as I was allowed on my card and couldn't wait to watch them all. Needless to say (or I wouldn't bother to write this) this show was wonderful as well and Penelope Keith is at her best. Upon viewing every episode, although a "special Christmas episode" was NOT on my library's edition, I discovered the boxed set for sale on Amazon and ordered it as soon I saw it.
Not as cartoonish as Margot in Good Neighbors, her "Audrey fforbes-Hamilton" is quite a character indeed and Miss Keith makes her pathetic, comedic, pompous AND accessible all at the same time. I can't imagine anyone else playing this role as well as Penelope Keith. If you are a fan of her work or if you are a just a fan of Britain's funniest female actors such as Patricia Routledge, Mollie Sudgen, The AbFab "Ladies" etc.,then you MUST, MUST, MUST own the work of Penelope Keith, as she, at least to me, is the Grande Dame of them all! I would highly suggest that you please buy the boxed set to see the entire series in order. And as a special feature there's a "lost" Christmas episode at the end of the last episode on Tape 6. In addition to Penelope Keith, I'm sure you'll enjoy this very gifted supporting cast as well and the location shots are very beautiful! Cheers.
Rating:
Summary: This is a wonderful show
Review: Penolope Keith and Peter Bowles are wonderful. They are not married though in real life. I looked it up online. I wish that they were though because they make a wonderful couple don't they? I love this show because it is relaxing to watch and the countryside is beautiful. I wish we had stuff like that in the United States. I recommend this show to anyone.
Rating:
Summary: Charming and delightful comedy series
Review: Recently widowed Audrey fforbes-Hamilton, lady of stately Grantleigh Manor, discovers that her late (and unlamented) husband has left her with little income and lots of debts forcing her to sell her beloved home. She takes comfort that Grantleigh is purchased by 'one of us' - instead of a rock star or even worse, a foreigner. The relief is short lived when she discovers that wealthy Englishman is really a nouveau riche Czech-born grocer. The two quickly develop a love-hate relationship despite the efforts of family and friends to match up the two.
Penelope Keith plays the domineering Audrey again displaying the talent for protraying such a character that she first showed in THE GOOD LIFE as Margo. Ms. Keith manages to find endearing qualities in these women who could so easily be just overbearing cartoons. Peter Bowles manages to bring the upwardly mobile Richard DeVere to life, walking the fine line between making an interesting sympathetic figure trying to understand all the unwritten rules of county society.
As is often the case in British sitcoms this is truly an ensemble cast with each member of the cast turning in stellar performences to make this series a gem to be enjoyed again and again.
I highly recommend this series to anyone who enjoys British comedy - this is one of the best. The material is still fresh despite being 20+ years old. The extras in this set include a Christmas special, interviews with Penelope Keith and Peter Bowles and four never filmed radio episodes. The Christmas special is good, interviews are great, radio episodes are interesting although not up to the rest of the series. The real treasure here are the twenty episodes themselves.
Rating: 
Summary: A Jolly Good Seires!
Review: Set in the rural English countryside, this very-English comedy series pokes fun at both English life and the aristocracy. The self-made businessman (and imigrant) Richard Devere and the recently widowed Audrey fforbes-Hamiliton are at odds after she is forced to sell, and he in-turn buys her ancestral home. Moving to a nearby (and much smaller home), Audrey keeps an eye on her beloved estate all the while scheming to get it back someday. Throughout the series Audrey and DeVere clash and occasionally get along, engaging in one-upsmanship, and all the while begin to develop an admiration for each other, leading to a surprise conclusion to the series. The series was very well done and will leave you laughing for weeks, especially if you enjoy British humor. My family and I enjoyed the series so much we made a special side trip while in England to see the estate used in the filming of the series. Cheers!
Rating:
Summary: How The Other Half Lives
Review: The main character is a rich widow who in the first episode throws her hat up in the air in joy upon leaving her husband's funeral service. Unfortunately, she finds her husband left her with less money than expected, and horrors! A businessman of Polish decent moves into her old mansion, and she decides that the man is not her kind of people. Much of the humor comes out of the main character being out of touch with how other people live and her own snobbishness.
Rating:
Summary: Those were the days
Review: This is one of the series that makes me long for the days when my local PBS was worth watching and didn't have to show commercials.
From start to finish, an excellent, nay outstanding, series based on class and social roles in England. (Reviews below go into greater detail). Unlike most American shows, they don't have to explain the situation during the opening song or with some voice-over. Additionally, while Penelope Keith and Peter Bowles have the lead characters, the other actors all have strong characters and good jokes to back their performances. It's a lot harder to be a good straight-man than an outrageous show-off. Put differently, no one character gets to dominate the show.
The one thing I don't understand is why the christmas episode is on a separate disk instead of where it belongs, between series 1 and 2. Oh well...
I look forward with great anticipation and hope for the release of the first 3 series of Good Neighbors(The Good Life), Waiting for God, Executive Stress, The Bounder, Agony, Fresh Fields, Hot Metal, Only When I Laugh, and all the other great series I used to be able to watch on PBS.
Rating:
Summary: An Absolute Delight to Watch and Rewatch!
Review: To the Manor Born is a thoroughly delightful Britcom co-starring Penelope Keith (Good Neighbours, Executive Stress, No Job for a Lady) as the snooty Audrey fforbes-Hamilton, a strong-willed, opinionated, blue-blood. The series opens with Audrey, the Lady of Grantleigh Manor, having been brought down a peg or two by the death of her husband, which has necessitated the sale of the Manor (resulting in her having to take up residence in the pokey little lodge on the grounds of the estate).
As if having to leave her beloved Grantleigh isn't humiliation enough, Audrey is miffed by the fact that the new Lord of the Manor is a gauche, noveau-riche grocery store magnet--and a foreigner to boot--named Richard DeVere (Peter Bowles (Rumpole of the Bailey, The Irish R.M.)). Richard is a self-made man who, now that he's got the money, wishes to live the life of a landed, moneyed English gentleman. But he finds there's more--much more--involved than simply buying a beautiful old Manor, as Audrey is only too quick to point out.
As a successful, practical businessman, Richard approaches life from a very different perspective than Audrey, who having lived a life of privilege has never had to work a day. The tension in the series arises from the radically different perspectives from which each approaches various local issues that arise, and the result is that the two are at loggerheads more often than not.
But though Audrey is quick to criticise Richard's lack of taste and his vulgar, profit-oriented motives, he is a handsome and, for all his "faults", charming man, and we cannot help noticing a certain jealousy on Audrey's part with respect to other women--a jealousy Audrey herself may not even realise exists (and certainly would never admit to!). The most frequent "other woman" whose plans or aspirations are quashed by Audrey is her best friend, Marjory Frobisher, a dowdy, middle-aged spinster who's positively love-struck by Richard.
As for Richard, though Audrey is a constant thorn in his side, thwarting his plans and finding fault with him at every turn, we do see in him a growing admiration and fondness despite himself. Though his feelings for her are sincere, it must be said that Audrey is the one person who has the class, the connections, and the ability to enable Richard to achieve the acceptance and respect that he, as the Lord of Grantleigh Manor, so desires. Richard's Czechoslovakian mother (whom Audrey affectionately dubs "Mrs. Pooh") recognises class (and the power and open doors that accompany it) when she sees it, and is constantly trying to coax Richard in Audrey's direction.
The DVD set contains all twenty 30-minute episodes (which ran from 1979-1981). Special features include the 30-minute 1979 Christmas special (which should be watched after disc one), plus a 30-minute profile of Penelope Keith (1999), and a 9-minute segment with Peter Bowles discussing the turning point in his career (2000). In 1997, four new 30-minute audio episodes were written for radio (which was apparently the originally-intended medium for the series), all of which are included on the special features disc, and they are really a treat. Unfortunately, the role of Richard was not reprised by Peter Bowles; still, the episodes (which take place at a point in time prior to the last episodes in the television series) are just as good as those in the original series, and I personally had no trouble picturing the scenes and characters in my mind's eye. Finally, there are text-based bios.
In conclusion, this thoroughly enjoyable, relaxing series is one of the gentler, cosy comedies, and it's one which I highly recommend to fans of British comedy.
Rating:
Summary: Not Much has changed
Review: To The Manor Born is and remains a wonderful series and well worth watching. It is the story of a well born English woman who sees her home sold to a man of what we in the U.S. might call new money.
They spar, and, of course, love blossoms.
Watch this show and realize that, Indian cuisine ( great food !) notwithstanding, this is still England. Two years ago, by accident, my husband and I (we are both Californians) ended up on British television as part of the Liberty and Livelihood March. 400,000 British assembled in Green and Hyde Parks to protest any ban on Foxhunting and deprivations of support (including abolishing Post Offices and Libraries) in rural communtities.
Men and women who, honestly, raised sheep and had never been to London before showed up and held the most peaceful demonstation ever seen.( Trust me, I grew up in California in the Vietman era) This show, although produced years earlier, reflects that uniquely British sentiment.Buy it, enjoy it, these days may not come again.
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