# To the Manor Born (1979)

> A widowed aristocrat loses her Gloucestershire manor to a self-made supermarket magnate and must learn to live alongside him.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/112

## Facts

- Seasons: 3
- Episodes: 21
- Episode runtime: 30 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: comedy
- Created by: Peter Spence
- Network: BBC One
- Cast: Penelope Keith, Peter Bowles, Angela Thorne, Daphne Heard, John Rudling, Michael Bilton, Gerald Sim, Anthony Sharp
- TMDB rating: 7.4/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078703/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: measured
- Intensity: mild
- Complexity: simple
- Violence: none
- Tone: witty, cozy, gently satirical, romantic

## What critics say

Critics broadly regard the series as a sharp, warmly acted British comedy of manners whose class-clash premise and lead performances carry it.

## Synopsis

To the Manor Born (1979-1981) is a British sitcom created by Peter Spence for BBC One. Penelope Keith plays Audrey fforbes-Hamilton, a proud widowed aristocrat who must sell her Gloucestershire manor after her husband squanders the family fortune, and Peter Bowles plays Richard DeVere, the self-made Czech-born supermarket millionaire who buys the estate. Their prickly love-hate courtship drives the show, with Angela Thorne as the sharp-tongued friend Marjory Frobisher adding further class friction. Each episode is built from small domestic embarrassments, village social obligations and clashes over old traditions versus new money in the English countryside. The series runs three seasons and twenty-one half-hour episodes in a single continuing story. It is a classic British comedy of manners with a warm, witty, gently satirical register, a bit of romance and a cosy rural atmosphere. Fans of Keeping Up Appearances, The Good Life and Fawlty Towers will find the same mix of social comedy and sparring characters.

## Shows like To the Manor Born

- [Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em (1973)](https://ember.film/tv/5635)
- [Cranford (2007)](https://ember.film/tv/13285)
- [Jeeves and Wooster (1990)](https://ember.film/tv/997)
- [Are You Being Served? (1972)](https://ember.film/tv/153)
- [Rising Damp (1974)](https://ember.film/tv/2417)
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- [Newhart (1982)](https://ember.film/tv/2857)
- [George and Mildred (1976)](https://ember.film/tv/2296)
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- [Upstairs, Downstairs (1971)](https://ember.film/tv/462)

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