29 Jun 2025

To the manor born (by Peter Spence)

To the manor born by Peter Spence
(Amazon UK link)
I watched some of the BBC sitcom ‘To the manor born’ when it first came out, towards the end of the 1970s and early 1980s. We acquired a DVD set of the complete series many years ago, although we have not watched them for a while. But I don’t think I had realised that there were accompanying books, written by Peter Spence (who also wrote most of the TV scripts). 

I found the books at a church book stall some years ago, and finally decided to read the first one which is simply entitled ‘To the manor born’.  There’s a photo of Penelope Keith on the front, in her role as Audrey, and a letter at the beginning, supposedly from Audrey to Richard letting him know that the BBC was making a documentary about them…

The action then goes back a year or so, to the funeral of Audrey’s husband, Marton fforbes-Hamilton. Audrey - and I imagine her as Penelope Keith’s version, not dissimilar to Margo in ‘The Good life’ - is relishing her role as a grieving widow. But it’s clear that she isn’t really unhappy at all.

Into the village drives Richard deVere, a man made extremely wealthy by the food industry. He wants to buy something typically English and old for himself and his elderly mother to live in, and he’s seeing around the lodge that’s part of the fforbes-Hamilton estate. He is much more interested in the manor house where Audrey lives, and persuades the estate agent to let him look around. Then they get caught up in the post-funeral wake. 

I don’t remember if this is how the TV series starts - evidently we need to watch the DVDs again - but it makes a dramatic start to this book. I knew, roughly, how the plot was going to develop. Richard and Audrey would start with misunderstandings, leading them to dislike each other. Then one would make tentative approaches of friendship, and things would seem to go well, until something happened to drive them apart again. 

And, indeed, that’s what happens in the book. Richard is so wealthy he wants to help Audrey, whose husband left her almost penniless. But Audrey is proud and does not want charity. Nor does she want to work for him, although - sometimes - she’s willing to advise. 

Audrey’s butler, known as Brabinger, features significantly in the book - he’s quite deaf, and not very competent other than at serving drinks. He’s been in the family for decades, and is more like a family friend than a servant. But he and Audrey both believe in keeping their place, never allowing their relationship to become too familiar. 

Margery also appears - Audrey’s most loyal friend, though she’s a bit twittery and vague, and finds Richard extremely attractive. There are some amusing comments about Margery’s dress sense (or lack of it) which would not have been possible in the TV series, and I probably wouldn’t have noticed if she was dressed in ill-fitting garments. 

There’s a lot of gentle humour in the book. Audrey tends to take things literally (often deliberately) and this can lead to some dialogue that almost had me laughing aloud.  I remembered some of the stories from the TV series, but not all of them. Audrey’s pretentions are often quashed, but underneath her snobbery and the act she puts on, she’s basically a likeable person. 

I thought it might take me a while to read this book; it’s only a little over 200 pages in paperback, but looked a bit dry with quite small text. Instead, I found myself picking it up at every odd moment, and finished it in just a couple of days. I’m already looking forward to reading the sequel some time next month.

Recommended if you like this kind of light humour based in the upper middle classes of England in the 1980s, particularly if you liked the TV series. It's long out of print and online prices can be very high, but you might find it inexpensively at a charity shop. 

Review copyright 2025 Sue's Book Reviews

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