To the Manor Born new Lord of the Manor is Richard DeVere, a recently widowed self-made millionaire who started his career on an East End fruit barrow and founded the "Cavendish Foods" supermarket chain, who to Audrey is simply a "grocer". DeVere brings his domineering mother, who is soon nicknamed by Audrey 'Mrs. Poo', her full name being Maria Jaroslava Vladimira Martinka Polouvicka. She reveals to Audrey, who does not like foreigners, that she and her son came to Britain in 1939 from Czechoslovakia, and that Richard, whose real name is Bedrich Polouvicek, is half-Polish (on his late father Lazlo's side) and half-Czechoslovakian. Mrs.
Audrey Roberts death in 1999 but throws herself into work and stands for council herself, retaining her seat until 2001. Audrey is similarly devastated when her best friend, Alma Halliwell (Amanda Barrie), dies of cervical cancer in June 2001. Audrey nearly becomes a victim of her serial killer son-in-law, Richard Hillman (Brian Capron), when he discovers that she is inherited quite a lot of money from Alf. In late 2002, viewers saw him subtly make Audrey fear that she is developing senile dementia by deliberately unlocking doors she had locked, hanging out washing that she does not remember, turning on lights and