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.
To the Manor Born filming, many cars were used; but the BBC continued to use the same vintage Rolls Royce motorcar through the entire series, including the opening titles for the show. The Rolls Royce (BMG443) has also been used in other BBC programmes such as "Dad's Army". The cast is led by Penelope Keith as Audrey fforbes-Hamilton and Peter Bowles as Richard. The other main cast members in the original series are Angela Thorne (playing Audrey's old friend Marjory), Daphne Heard (Richard's mother, Mrs Polouvicka), John Rudling (Brabinger the butler), Michael Bilton (Ned, the odd-job man) and Gerald Sim (the Rector). Rudling was