Penelope Keith win the 1976 Olivier Award for Best Comedy Performance for the play "Donkeys' Years". She became a household name in the UK playing Margo Leadbetter in the sitcom "The Good Life" (1975–78), winning the 1977 BAFTA TV Award for Best Light Entertainment Performance. In 1978, she won the BAFTA TV Award for Best Actress for "The Norman Conquests". She then starred as Audrey fforbes-Hamilton in the sitcom "To the Manor Born" (1979–81), a show that received audiences of more than 20 million. She went on to star in another six sitcoms, including "Executive Stress" (1986–88), "No Job for a Lady"
To the Manor Born the programmes that Spence wrote for featured a Cockney comedian, who had recently bought a manor house in an English country village. When holding a housewarming party, the comedian invited the previous occupant, a widow who could not afford to keep the house up and had moved to a smaller house in the village. The comedian's account of the lady, and the conversation he had with her, Spence later described as a "perfect description" of Audrey. A few years later, following the success of "The Good Life", Spence was asked by BBC Radio to come up with an idea for