The BEST episodes of To the Manor Born
Every episode of To the Manor Born ever, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of To the Manor Born!
Audrey fforbes-Hamilton has fallen on hard times since the death of her husband, Martin. Forced to sell Grantleigh Manor, which has been in her family for 400 years, she graciously adjusts to her new circumstances in The Lodge at the edge of the estate. With the Manor now occupied by supermarket magnate Richard DeVere and his elderly mother, "Mrs Poo". Audrey is soon annoyed that her position on the estate has been usurped - and by a man who represents everything Audrey regards as bad taste. It's clearly a love-hate relationship from the beginning, but between foiling DeVere's plans and bringing his ego down a notch or two, Audrey manages to stamp her authority on the running of the Manor while the faint whisper of romance echoes across the way.
#1 - The First Noel
Season 1 - Episode 8 - Aired 12/25/1979
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?
#2 - Back to the Manor
Season 3 - Episode 7 - Aired 11/29/1981
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.
#3 - Station Closing
Season 3 - Episode 2 - Aired 10/25/1981
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.
#4 - Never Be Alone
Season 2 - Episode 3 - Aired 10/19/1980
Audrey agrees to help Richard catalog his antique china collection, then becomes the prime suspect when a valuable piece goes missing.
#5 - Birds vs. Bees
Season 3 - Episode 4 - Aired 11/8/1981
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!
#6 - Vive Le Sport
Season 2 - Episode 6 - Aired 11/9/1980
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.
#7 - The New Farm Manager
Season 2 - Episode 1 - Aired 10/5/1980
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.
#8 - All New Together
Season 1 - Episode 2 - Aired 10/7/1979
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.
#9 - Scout Hut
Season 3 - Episode 1 - Aired 10/18/1981
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.
#10 - Cosmetics
Season 3 - Episode 5 - Aired 11/15/1981
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.
#11 - Horses vs. Cars
Season 3 - Episode 3 - Aired 11/1/1981
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.
#12 - The Honours List
Season 2 - Episode 5 - Aired 11/2/1980
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.
#13 - A Touch of Class
Season 1 - Episode 7 - Aired 11/11/1979
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.
#14 - Connections in High Places
Season 3 - Episode 6 - Aired 11/22/1981
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.
#15 - The Spare Room
Season 2 - Episode 2 - Aired 10/12/1980
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.
#16 - The Summer Hunt Ball
Season 1 - Episode 5 - Aired 10/28/1979
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.
#17 - Grape Vine
Season 1 - Episode 6 - Aired 11/4/1979
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.
#18 - Nation's Heritage
Season 1 - Episode 4 - Aired 10/21/1979
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.
#19 - Going to Church
Season 1 - Episode 3 - Aired 10/14/1979
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.
#20 - Tramps and Poachers
Season 2 - Episode 4 - Aired 10/26/1980
A wandering itinerant laborer pits Audrey and Richard against each other in a contest to show that each is the most charitable towards him.
#21 - Grantleigh
Season 1 - Episode 1 - Aired 9/30/1979
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.