As beneficiary of Grantleigh Manor, the snobbish Lady fforbes-Hamilton becomes a happy widower upon the death of her husband. But in the face of her late husband's creditors, bank, and the government, she can no longer afford to maintain the family's hold on the estate. Reluctantly, she sees it auctioned to Richard De Vere (formerly Bedrich Polouvicka), a millionaire bachelor of Czechoslovakian extraction who runs a multinational grocery business.
With his mother he wastes no time in moving into the Manor. Audrey is annoyed at her new position on the estate, and she is forced to move, with butler, to the Manor lodge. DeVere represents everything Audrey regards as bad taste. Their differences of background, breeding and behavior are at once infuriating and endearing.
BBC Video and Warner Home Video have announced the
September 9th release of the 5-DVD set
To the Manor Born - The Complete Series: Silver Anniversary Edition. Cost, details and package art have not yet been provided, which means we're not certain so far what exactly makes this upcoming release different from
the four-disc set they released four years ago. The new set is said to have a TV Special, a Featurette and a Documentary, but those extras match the supplements found on the previous release, without accounting for the extra disc on this new version. We're digging into this, though, so stay tuned and we'll update you as soon as we know more!
UPDATE: A pair of readers, Ron and Jerry, sent in separate e-mails noting that a new "25th Anniversary episode" was shown this past Christmas on BBC1, and that the 5th disc in this release most likely contains that item. We appreciate the info, guys!
We've now confirmed with distributor Warner Home Video that the To the Manor Born - Silver Wedding Anniversary is coming out separately on the same date, Sept. 9th, for $14.98 SRP. It's 50 minutes long, and contains a bonus "making-of" featurette. This disc is also included on the 5th disc in the new updated To the Manor Born - The Complete Series: Silver Anniversary Edition set, which will cost $79.98 SRP. We're still waiting on package art for both, so stay tuned.
