To the Manor Born

Following the love-hate relationship between upper-class Audrey Forbes-Hamilton and Richard DeVere, the nouveau riche businessman who buys her manor house when she can no longer afford to keep it.

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.

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

• Keeping Up Appearancesclass clash comedy, upper class decline meets new money, witty sitcom of manners
• The Good Lifebritish sitcom, country house setting, middle class comedy of manners
• Fawlty Towersromantic bickering between a gentry lady and a self-made man, country house sitcom

Created by

Peter Spence

Release Date

1979-09-30

Episode runtime

30 min

Rating

7.4 / 10 (32)

What is To the Manor Born about?

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

What is To the Manor Born like to watch?

Ember's analysis rates the pacing of To the Manor Born as measured, its intensity as mild and its storytelling as simple.

Is To the Manor Born violent?

No — Ember's analysis finds no violence in To the Manor Born.

What did critics think of To the Manor Born?

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

Which shows are like To the Manor Born?

Shows with a similar feel include Keeping Up Appearances, The Good Life, and Fawlty Towers.

How long is To the Manor Born?

To the Manor Born: 3 seasons, 21 episodes.

Is To the Manor Born still running?

No, To the Manor Born has ended.