User Reviews

I've just watched this chapter and I hope they will do some more. I enjoyed it a lot. The actors are as fresh as ever, they depict the characters after some years later and it seems to me realistic the evolution of the pair after living together for so long. As always, my favourite is Angela Thorne, (it doesn't mean I don't praise Penelope Keith and Peter Bowles, but I've always had a soft spot for Farrington), and I also found the butler an interesting new character. Updating To The Manor Born is bold and I understand there are some aspects that cannot be like in the old times, just because they no longer exist (as many brilliant actors from the original series who died), but there are some present day issues that annoy Audrey (like Big Brother or the rock concert) that will end up in the funniest settings. Finally, the photography is better than ever, the landscape is fabulous and the film has been shot gorgeously, the landscape becoming one character more, as it is the Manor Born.

As a big fan of the original series, I was looking forward to this special: Family together for the holidays, a bowl of Christmas pud firmly planted in the lap; it seemed like the perfect setting for an update to the Fforbes-Hamilton/DeVere saga.

What we got instead was a poorly constructed mish-mash of class clichés that made me wish they'd simply repeated the final episode of the original. On top of that, the acting was atrocious. Penelope Keith is one of my favourite comedy actresses, but either she had an off day or there was something (or possibly some) rum in the food. Angela Thorne, who was a joy to watch in the original, seemed to be having trouble with her lines, and Peter Bowles looked like he was sleeping through his. Add to that a plot with more holes than a Swiss cheese and it gave me the feeling of a pot-boiler: done for money rather than love.

My advice to other fans: Give this one a miss; the writers should have.