To the Manor Born
In a Class of Its Own
 Audrey and Richard
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To the Manor Born aired on BBC1 from 1979 to 1981, starring Penelope Keith and Peter Bowles, and received high audience figures for many of its episodes. In 2004, it came 21st in Britain's Best Sitcom. The first 20 episodes were written by Peter Spence, the creator, and the 1981 finale by Christopher Bond, the script associate.
In To the Manor Born Penelope Keith, who had became famous for playing Margo Leadbetter in the suburban sitcom The Good Life, plays Audrey fforbes-Hamilton, an upper-class woman who, upon the death of her husband, has to move out of her beloved manor house. The manor is then bought by Richard DeVere, played by Peter Bowles, a nouveau riche millionaire supermarket owner. DeVere and fforbes-Hamilton have a love-hate relationship which is eventually resolved in the 1981 finale, in which they marry.
 Richard and his mother, "Mrs. Poo"
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Peter Spence first thought of the idea behind To the Manor Born in the early 1970s when he was working for BBC Radio as a gag writer. One of the programs that Spence wrote for featured a Cockney comedian, who had recently bought a manor house in an English country village. When holding a housewarming party, the comedian invited the previous occupant, a widow who could not afford to keep the house up and had moved to a smaller house in the village. The comedian's account of the lady, and the conversation he had with her, Spence later described as a "perfect description" of Audrey.
 Margo
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A few years later, following the success of The Good Life, Spence was asked by BBC Radio to come up with an idea for a program to feature Keith. Thinking of Keith's character in The Good Life, Spence had the idea of an upper-class version of Margo Leadbetter, and from the account from the comedian, came up with Audrey fforbes-Hamilton. Instead of a Cockney comedian as the new owner of the manor, Spence decided on an American who sees the manor while in England looking for his roots. The American later discovers he is descended from the fforbes-Hamiltons. This was made into a radio pilot in 1976 with Bernard Braden as the American, but was never broadcast due to the interest to make it into a TV series.
 Ned, Marjory, Audrey and Brabinger
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When writing the TV series, Christopher Bond was brought in as the script associate and helped to adapt the series from radio to television. The American character was changed, and the idea of a character who appeared to be an English gentleman but turns out not to be, was thought of. It was then decided that this character needed someone who could reveal his real background, and his mother was created, although it was not until Spence had nearly finished the first series that she was written in from the beginning. The characters of Brabinger and Marjory followed soon after. The first episode aired on September 30, 1979, a year after Keith had played Margo Leadbetter for the last time in The Good Life.
The Insider, by N. Scott Jones, Fall 2007
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