To those of you who have read some of my other TV & Movie reviews>>> you probably have guessed that It was only a matter of time before I reviewed yet another of Sir Derek Jacobi’s works. Manor House is a departure of sorts, as he is the narrator, not actually one of the stars of the show. But his narration is a true joy to listen to… especially if you’re one of his many fans.
The premise of this six part miniseries: People from 2002 are transplanted back in time – the Edwardian period (early 1900s) – to a manor house in Great Britain. This was a time with vastly differing social classes. Upon entering the grounds of this particular manor house world, the twenty first century inhabitants lost all of their twenty first century technology. YOW! Have we improved our circumstances since then!
For those participants of the televised experiment who were lucky enough to portray (as in LIVE!!!) the aristocratic family>>> bravo for you! For those participants who were “lucky enough” to live the parts of scullery maids, stable boy, butler, cook, ETC>>> YIKES! Times were tough! (I don’t personally know anybody who could survive, let alone flourish, in the life of a scullery maid!) And, of course, as expected, the family living the aristocratic family’s part becomes…. Oops! No spoilers here!
My husband and I enjoyed this show immensely and looked forward to each and every episode. The one big draw back for us: we would have enjoyed spending even more time with the inhabitants of this particular Manor House!
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Anne C. says
This series was incredible! We were amazed at the amount of detail and the dedication of the participants to stay in character and in period! It certainly gives a different viewpoint than we have seen in “Downton Abbey” or “Upstairs, Downstairs.” I was so intrigued by the series that I looked on-line and ordered a large book written by one of the producers, with photographs from the show illustrating the text, which goes into great detail aobut Edwardian England. I’m looking forward to reading it to find out more about the show.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Anne C, I totally agree with you about the Manor House miniseries… a totally “different viewpoint”…
Anne says
This baffles me as I’ve never heard of it. There is a long standing tradition on British t.v. of transporting people back in time, beginning with “Living in the Past” in the 70s, where a group of people lived as Iron Age villagers, through to “The 1900 house” and “the Wartime House” of a couple of decades ago. Maybe “The Manor House” had a different title here.
Danna - cozy mystery list says
Anne, I really enjoyed the Manor House series. As I recall, they had a difficult time finding someone who would act the part of the scullery maid. What a job!
Anne says
I vaguely remember it now – I think it was “The Edwardian Country House” – the boot boy slept on the floor in the hall!
Stash Empress says
I LOVED this show!!! I think the butler was the best — he really tried his best to do it all properly — kind of “What Would Hudson Do” LOL. Unfortunately, he wasn’t dealing with people who had been raised to this lifestyle (neither those above nor those belowstairs) so it didn’t always work out for him the way he wanted.
And of course they couldn’t keep a scullery maid –who would want that kind of job if they didn’t have to? Today nobody lives under those conditions, but in olden times it was considered that having a roof over your head & food on your table was worth any amount of honest work, no matter how hard & demeaning. In this day & age, nobody would work under those conditions (unless they were REALLY hoping to be “discovered” by Hollywood! 😉 )