The Arrival of Spring

In Episode Three, "The Rhythms of the Earth," we hear the chimes on the church tower ring, and the organ playing. As the rector walks outside, followed by his parishioners, we realize that the Sunday morning service has just ended. 

Here he shakes hands with old Ned, who has kindly agreed to perform some maintenance on the large church clock. Audrey and her friend Marjory are happy to see old Ned, but Audrey in particular has noticed the absence of Richard Devere, the new lord of the manor.

So after asking old Ned to call by the old Lodge, and take a look at her grandfather clock, she heads off to the manor, to acquaint Richard with his lordly duties. 

There she informs him that there is no time for him to gradually grow accustomed to life in the country. Spring has arrived, and there are any number of tasks he must get started on immediately.

On the day we arrived at St. Thomas Church, the clock on the church tower was keeping accurate time. It was good to see that Old Ned, or his successor, still kept the clock in good repair.

One thing I never realized was how far the entrance is from the church door. I love the way the covered entryway extends out, and the masonry opens outward, ushering you to step in out of the elements, before entering the covered walkway. This gives the church a nice welcoming feeling, which I always sensed before when I saw it on TV. Now I know why.

Spring had well and truly arrived at the manor when we visited, and the landscape looked beautifully maintained. Evidently Audrey's pep talk to Richard proved profitable. Grantleigh Manor always looked like such a beautiful place to visit on TV. I was pleased to find it even more beautiful than I had imagined.

Dragon Dave 

The Magic of Television: Part 2

In the beginning of Episode 2, "All New Together," the Vicar and Marjory Frobisher gaze down at the manor house from the end of the short drive. From there, the manor is just a spot on the horizon. 

When my wife and I arrived at the entry to Cricket St. Thomas, we thought of stopping and looking around the Old Lodge next to the gate. But we really wanted to see the manor house first, and also try to find the church. Now that we knew where the Old Lodge was, we could return to it later. So we headed on down the long, winding, one-lane drive.

Time flew past as we walked around the manor, taking photographs, and reminiscing. We also spent a fair amount of time inside the old church. By then we were getting tired, and decided to head back up the drive to see the Old Lodge. Even if the interiors were filmed in a studio back in London, we were really looking forward to seeing the outside of Audrey's residence-in-exile.

As we neared the entryway, with the gates still open, we stopped and I took a few photographs of the Old Lodge from the back. It was a pastoral place, and better maintained than in the days Audrey and Brabinger lived there off her slim savings.

But it looked different somehow, and when we pulled up in front, it struck me that this couldn't possibly be the Old Lodge. At least, not unless it had been significantly remodeled. So I got back in the car and we consulted a crude map I had found online.

Sure enough, this wasn't the Old Lodge: that lay in the opposite direction, along the narrow, winding one-lane road we had entered along. To visit the Old Lodge, we would have had to turn around, and head back, and drive well past the manor to find it. The drive each way would probably amount to thirty minutes, plus the time we spent there. Given our predilection for exploration, we figured the trip to the Old Lodge would take up at least an hour. Then we'd need to hit the road again. But we were already tired, and jet lagged after our long flight from San Diego to Heathrow the previous day. (Actually, I think we lost a day in the process). And after our nightmare journey from Heathrow to our first hotel the previous night, when our GPS refused to work properly, we were still a little iffy about driving along English roads. So reluctantly, we decided to leave the Old Lodge for a return journey to Cricket St. Thomas. After all, we have to leave something new to discover, if we want a reason to return, right?

Assuming the Old Lodge still stands, it's not situated with a view of the front of the manor house, but well behind. (At least, according to the map I found). So it can't have the view that Marjory and the Vicar had. Nor can Audrey look out her back porch through her binoculars and see the the front of the manor. 

I wonder how they filmed that scene at the beginning of the episode, with Marjory and the Vicar standing outside the Old Lodge. I can only assume the production team must have placed a large green screen behind the actors when they filmed at Cricket St. Thomas. Then, back at the studio, that the special effects people used a process called Color Separation Overlay, or CSO, to insert a view of the manor house onto the green screen. This process was regularly used back then on such TV shows as Doctor Who, and is still used today in making TV shows and feature films. Blue or Green Screen technology was used in making Star Wars, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings movies, and even, I believe, in the western Appaloosa. But it's odd to think that the Special Effects department played such a role in making a sitcom. 

But then, that's the magic of television.

Dragon Dave 

The Magic of Television: Part 1

In Episode 2: "All New Together," Marjory Frobisher and the Vicar meet outside the Old Lodge. They gaze down the drive at the manor, where a moving company is packing up Audrey's personal possessions. They represent the local community, who never suspected Audrey's husband was deeply in debt, or the day would come when the fforbes-Hamilton family would leave Grantleigh Manor.

When the time comes to depart, Audrey and her butler Brabinger are waved away by the Vicar, Marjory, the cook Mrs. Beecham, a housekeeper, Old Ned, and Linda Cartwright. 

At this point, they don't know where Audrey is moving to, as she has kept her new residence a secret.

To everyone's surprise, they see Audrey's old Rolls Royce stop at the end of the drive. Out pop Audrey, Brabinger, and Audrey's dog Bertie. Suddenly, Marjory realizes the truth: Audrey has used her residual savings, after the sale of the manor, to buy the Old Lodge.

The group outside the manor then greet Richard Devere and his mother as they arrive at their new home.

On the day we visited Cricket St. Thomas, it was already afternoon. We had spent all morning, and the early afternoon at Stonehenge. We hadn't been sure if we would be allowed to enter the grounds, as we were not paying guests. But thankfully the gates were open, and we were allowed to drive down the long, wandering, one-lane road to the manor.

I had read that the manor house lay much farther away from the Old Lodge than it appeared on TV. Still, I was surprised.

But then, that's the magic of television, right?

Dragon Dave

Audrey's Grand Design

In the first episode of the classic British sitcom, "To The Manor Born," Audrey fforbes-Hamilton and her friend Marjory Frobisher wait outside the parish church of St. Thomas until all of the other mourners have departed. 

Then Audrey tells her butler Brabinger to take her dog Bertie home in the car. She and Marjory will walk back to the manor.

Audrey pauses when she reaches these flower pots, and asks Marjory if anyone is looking. After Marjory assures her that they are alone, she removes her black hat, lifts her arms, and shouts "Hooray!" Marjory is shocked by what she can only imagine is her friend's strange outpouring of grief. 

Audrey refuses to pretend that she's not relieved that her husband Martin died of pneumonia. Marjory says she knows that Audrey and Martin didn't always "get on." Audrey responds, "Well, we do now." Audrey has big plans to improve the manor, and she looks forward to having a free hand to get the house and grounds into their ideal state.

Then the two friends walk off toward the manor, to attend the funeral reception.

On the day we attended St. Francis Church, no snow covered the ground.

Nor were we shocked by any black-garbed women throwing their hats in the air.

The flower pots were bursting with color.

And all the plants and trees were thriving.

I wonder if that's all a result of Audrey's grand design for the manor?

Dragon Dave

Audrey and the Paperboy

Another thing that surprised me in the radio version of TV episode 3 (for Radio Episode 1) was how original series creator and writer Peter Spence rewrote the motivation for Audrey's visit to the manor. In his TV version, she is incensed that Richard didn't bother to attend church on his first Sunday living at the estate. She regards this as his duty, as he is the new lord of the manor. She even instructed the rector to preach a sermon on all the duties required of the master of the estate. Yet he didn't show up, so all the effort she went to was wasted. 

This man might be able to run a supermarket chain, but how can he ever hope to run his estate properly if he flaunts his responsibilities in such a fashion?

So instead of returning home, she walks to the manor after the service to instruct him in his duties to the community. On the doorstep, she picks up his morning paper. When Richard arrives at the door, he's so sleepy he takes the paper without thinking, without even recognizing her, and shuts the door in her face! 

In the rewritten radio version, she intercepts the paperboy before church, before she even knows whether he will attend the service or not. So we realize she planned on visiting him all along, with the intention of molding him into her vision of the ideal lord of the manor. (Whether he liked it or not!) Or, barring that, send him fleeing back to London by overwhelming him with all the demands country life will place on his time. Thus she becomes more proactive as a character. This is a nice touch, as in the TV series she's usually reacting to how Richard does or does not perform his community and lordly duties. 

There's lots of other little extra bits, and rewritten dialogue, that adds a new dimension to the episode. Unburdened by staging visuals, writer Peter Spence succeeds in not just elevating minor characters like Old Ned, but also in expanding the roles of the series' regulars for "The Rhythms of the Earth." I look forward to listening to the remaining episodes, and savoring the differences between the original TV shows and their radio adaptations. 

Dragon Dave

P.S. To listen to "The Rhythms of the Earth," follow the link below.

To The Manor Born Radio Episode


P.P.S. I've added a new feature, Stand-Alone Pages, to my blog. You'll find it below My Blog List on the right, between About Me and the Blog Archive. Hopefully, this section will function as a resource for newcomers to this blog who are unfamiliar with aspects of the classic TV series. To view the first entry, click the link A Few Words of Introduction in the Stand-Alone Pages section. Then you can return to the main blog by clicking the Home link.

A Spotlight on Old Ned

Dedicated reader Joppy commented on the previous post to say that radio plays based on the "To The Manor Born" TV series are currently available on BBC Radio 4 Ex in Britain. I was delighted to find that I could access them in the United States via my laptop. 

Those steeped in Audrey and Richard's TV adventures will find the stories they know and love slightly rewritten for their radio presentations. For example, the first radio episode, "The Rhythms of the Earth," is an adaptation of the third TV episode, so it helps to know the set-up for the series--that Audrey loses the mansion to Richard--before diving into the radio program. But one enjoyable aspect of that first radio episode is a beefed-up role for Ned. He appears briefly in episode 1 of the original TV series, but it's not really until episode 3, "The Rhythms of the Earth," that he comes into his own as a character.

Old Ned (2nd from left) acts as pallbearer
 for Audrey's deceased husband
in Episode 1 of the TV series.

Ned, or Old Ned as he introduces himself to Richard, is a lifelong worker on Audrey's family estate. He's a jack of all trades, able to turn his hand to any work that needs doing. This includes mending the local clocks. This includes the clock that sits atop the church tower. In Episode 3 of the TV series, Audrey sees him outside the church after the Sunday morning service. She asks him if he can take a look at her grandfather clock, then walks back home. 

Original TV series writer Peter Spence changes things slightly for radio. In his new, upscale vision, Ned drives a tractor to and from church. Thus, Audrey sensibly adds the proviso that Ned first drop off the load of manure in the tractor he's driving. But Ned doesn't appear to hear the request, as he's just started up the tractor's engine. Peter Spence develops this idea through the radio episode, with characters mentioning at one point that there's a certain smell associated with Audrey's clock, which Ned has taken away to fix. 

In the TV series, Ned is an incidental character for the most part. Here he is, in TV episode two. He doesn't get any lines, but he hands her a small bunch of wildflowers as she leaves the manor.

Audrey thanks him for the flowers, and wishes him all the best with his cucumbers.

Later in the radio version of "The Rhythms of the Earth," as Richard wanders his estate, his conversation with Old Ned is longer than its TV counterpart. The overall effect is that, at least for this first episode of the radio series, his role is much larger. This elevates him from a minor character, to part of the regular ensemble. As Old Ned was one of my favorite characters in the TV series, I enjoyed his greater presence in the radio episode.

I look forward to listening to more of the radio series, and seeing (or should I say hearing) how Peter Spence adapted his original stories for a new medium. Oh, and Thank You, Joppy, for letting me know the radio programs were available. What a wonderful way, as Audrey might say, to demonstrate your sense of noblesse oblige.

Dragon Dave

P.S. To listen to "The Rhythms of the Earth," follow the link below.

To The Manor Born Radio Episode

Richard Devere's Dream House

In the first episode of "To The Manor Born," a Rolls Royce stops before an English church.

The driver gets out, and asks the priest for directions to The Old Lodge, a gentleman's estate he is planning on buying for his mother and himself. 

After giving him directions, the vicar politely asks him to leave, as a funeral service is underway.

When the man pulls up outside The Old Lodge, he tells the real estate agent that this isn't what he is looking for. He introduces himself. His name is Richard Devere. He's the owner of the multinational supermarket chain Cavendish Foods. He wants to escape the hustle and bustle of London, and run his business from a country home. The Old Lodge is hardly large enough to house himself and his mother, in addition to to serving as a regional corporate office.

Still, as long as he's driven this far, he agrees to tour The Old Lodge anyway.

Then he opens the french windows leading onto the back porch. There, in the distance, he sees what he desires: a real gentleman's country house. It would be perfect for his needs! "That's the one I want you to show me," he announces, and hurries off across the back porch and onto the snow-covered ground, not waiting to see if the real estate agent will follow him.

This little country church still stands. It's called The Parish Church of Saint Thomas. It's located on the grounds of Cricket St. Thomas, an old gentleman's country house. On the day we visited, no funeral service was underway. Nor did a vicar come out to greet us. But it was hardly necessary, as the house we wanted to see, the kind of house Richard Devere needed for himself, his mother, and his business, was easy to find.

As with Richard Devere, one glimpse, even from far away, is enough to make you fall in love with this stately old manor house.

Dragon Dave

This Blog Is Under Construction

Welcome to my blog dedicated to the classic British sitcom "To The Manor Born." 

This blog is currently in the planning stages. Posts will begin in November.

Thank you for your patience, and your interest in this blog.

Dragon Dave

P.S. When I originally wrote out the first sentence, I typed: dedicated to the classic British sitcom "Last of the Summer Wine." Phew! Glad I caught that!! What a mistake that would be!!!