Newly-widowed Audrey fforbes-Hamilton, rejoicing in finding herself the sole owner of Grantleigh Manor Estate, is devastated to find out she must sell the estate to pay the debts left by her late husband, Marton.
The staff of Grantleigh Manor bid Audrey farewell with evident relief at her departure, only to find out the well kept secret of where she's moving--only a few hundred yards down the drive to the old gatekeeper's lodge, where she can still keep an eye on things and keep the new owner in his place.
Audrey berates Richard for failing to attend church at the Manor chapel on his first Sunday at Grantleigh, as well as lecturing him about other duties she feels he's failing to live up to as the new lord of the manor.
Audrey is appalled at Richard's plans to remodel the Manor, including his removal of the old fireplaces, though she never especially liked them and only wants a chance to lecture him about respecting history and "put him in his place" yet again.
Richard uses psychology to trick Audrey into organizing the annual Hunt Ball at Grantleigh, then becomes so distracted by ongoing business deals that he forgets to invite her to the Ball as his guest.
No longer able to afford an annual holiday to an exotic locale, Audrey pretends to leave for Spain while actually hiding inside the lodge with a sunlamp and Spanish language records.
Richard is chosen to star in a tv commercial as the quintessential English gentleman enjoying spirits at his country estate, but Audrey, who now knows Richard isn't English, reveals it to the producers and lands the starring role for herself.
Richard and Audrey compete in supplying the traditional Christmas crib to the village church, and the question soon becomes which offer is more ridiculous - her homemade monstrosity or his crassly commercial model?
Richard sends Audrey over the edge yet again as he brings in an efficiency expert to try to modernize every aspect of the estate's management, and sending everything and everyone into varying states of chaos.
Audrey gleefully sets up a blind date between Richard and an old school chum of hers who was always dumpy and unattractive, then does everything in her power to prevent it when she finds out that her old friend is now an attactive single woman who she fears might catch Richard's interest.
Audrey agrees to help Richard catalog his antique china collection, then becomes the prime suspect when a valuable piece goes missing.
A wandering itinerant laborer pits Audrey and Richard against each other in a contest to show that each is the most charitable towards him.
Richard upsets Audrey again, this time by proposing to cut down the estate's ancient hedgerows in order to increase the amount of farmable acreage, and Audrey leads a local protest to stop him.
Audrey learns firsthand the horrors of the national healthcare system when she injures her back and her private doctor refuses to treat her due to her unpaid bills, and refers her to the public clinic. Meanwhile, Richard, who's never skied in his life, learns the folly of pretending to the world that he's an expert on skis.
Richard, leading the local Boy Scout troup, and Audrey, heading the local Girl Guides group, nearly come to blows as they compete for their troups' rights to use the building both groups must share.
When Audrey learns of plans to close the local railway station, she leads a protest to save it. Meanwhile, Richard plans to buy the site so he can tear down the station and build a new grocery store in its place.
Unable to pay the repair bills for her ancient Rolls, Audrey decides to go everywhere by horse and carriage, much to the dismay of Richard, who has secretly bought her a tiny car to get around in.
Audrey becomes a beekeeper to raise needed money from selling the honey her bees produce, only to find her bees being eaten by a bird which turns out not only to be extremely rare, but also to draw hordes of birdwatchers from all over to come trampling across her property. Leave it to resourceful Audrey to again find a creative solution to triumph against the odds!
Richard must get Audrey to agree to pose as his wife for a weekend so he can fend off the amorous attentions of a cosmetics businesswoman who has decided to visit the estate.
The stockholders of Richard's company conspire to throw him off the board of directors, and Audrey asks her rich uncle to help him fight off the threat.
Richard loses control of his company when his main supporter, Audrey's rich uncle, dies suddenly, and Richard is forced to sell most of his assets, including Grantleigh Manor.
Penelope Keith casts an affectionate eye back on the much-loved sitcom To the Manor Born and her role as upper-class Audrey fforbes-Hamilton, who finds herself down on her luck.
Laugh-filled look at the hit sitcom starring Dame Penelope Keith and Peter Bowles, featuring a new interview with Dame Penelope, plus classic clips and archives.
It is now a quarter of a century since we last heard from Grantleigh Manor. That was the day that the indomitable Audrey Fforbes-Hamilton, the dispossessed Lady of the Manor, finally got round to marrying Richard Devere, her usurper and supermarket tycoon of Czechoslovakian stock. It was a perfect love match, yet their romance was never less than a tempestuous on-off affair due to their one-and-only source of disagreement - which was pretty well everything. Audrey and Richard are still living in the Manor. Marjory lives in The Lodge. Richard and Audrey's 25th wedding anniversary is coming up so there is a party to plan. But before that, there is the local two in hand horse trial to conquer as well as Audrey's nephew (Alexander Armstrong) to attend to. But Richard has a secret which threatens to destroy the community, a happy marriage and a lifetime of friendships.
Cast and crew look back at the BBC's upmarket romantic sitcom To the Manor Born (1979), which starred Penelope Keith and Peter Bowles.
