Product Details

• Actors: John Olliff-Cooper, Anna Olliff-Cooper, Jonty Olliff-Cooper, Guy Olliff-Cooper, Avril Anson
• Directors: Caroline Ross-Pirie, Nick Murphy
• Producers: Caroline Ross-Pirie, Donna Luke
• Format: Color, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround)
• Subtitles: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 3
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: PBS (Direct)
• DVD Release Date: May 27, 2003
• Run Time: 360 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (30 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00009K77X
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #9,932 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

• This item is part of The PBS' House Series.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover
Following in the tradition of Upstairs, Downstairs and Robert Altman's 2001 Edwardian comic feature Gosford Park MANOR HOUSE takes a fascinating look at the grand and grueling British class system of the early 1900s. This new series is another adventure in placing contemporary people into the lifestyle of a previous historical era, as in prior cultural-reality series 1900 HOUSE and FRONTIER HOUSE. However, this series is different, as there are distinct classes: the aristocratic family, the upper servants and the lower servants, all of whom must deal with each other according to the etiquette of the time. Within the house there is an intricate pecking order, which firmly places everybody in a set social position and decides every aspect of life--who can initiate conversation, who has pudding at lunch, who can have a bath and when. MANOR HOUSE brings to life the social status, interaction and class behavior of a bygone era.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

114 of 124 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars More than just a good show... a lesson for all leaders., May 13, 2003

By	Daniel C. Hatfield "danorlandoman" (Orlando, FL USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is definitely a great collection from purely a reality show entertainment point of view. However, what struck me even more than just my amusement was the lessons this show articulated about leadership and management. I've done quite a bit of reading about leadership, everything from "Think and Grow Rich" to "Primal Leadership", and one the overriding themes is always communication in all its various forms and in all the directions it flows. This series does a suburb job of illustrating exactly what can do wrong and how if different levels of an organization, or in this case, a manor, do not know, do not understand, or do not choose to care to understand what's going on in the hearts and minds of the people around them.

Sir John publicly insults the butler, and you get to see first hand how much more devastating that is than respectfully pulling someone to the side. The lady of the house's biggest complaint at the beginning of the show was about how she never saw her children. By the end she didn't seem to care, which shows us how quickly our minds can change if we don't maintain focus. Sir John kills a couple of birds for the lowest servants to cook for themselves as a treat. However, there's a big party coming up, and there's no way the servants are going to have time to fry the birds, so the apparent act of kindness is received by those whom it was directed at in completely the wrong way, which shows how important it is that we understand what the people around us need.

The best example for poor leadership in the house, however, probably occurs at the end. Sir John and the family are so distraught about leaving the house. They breakdown in front of the servants while saying good-bye, and they feel awful about leaving everyone whom they've come to feel so close to. At the same time, the servants are rather glad to be leaving aside from missing other people in their group, and most of them have developed a strong dislike for the family, of which the family is completely oblivious. The implication? Well, first, this shows how easily the same situation can look to two different groups of people on different sides of a situation. Secondly, if that was an organization, it would be on the brink of having its workforce walk out on it, even though, to the eyes of management, everything was splendid and, as they understood it, everyone was very connected to everyone else at all levels.

I've done my best to describe what I saw in this review, but I'm sure I've done it poorly as I am not well trained at critiquing this sort of thing. Also, there is plenty more going on that I didn't even come close to touching on. Please believe me on this point, though: if you are even at least a little bit interested in buying this title, do it! You will be so happy, and perhaps enlightened, that you did!

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Upstairs/downstairs drama at its best, August 5, 2005

By	Ivy Lin (NY NY) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

At the beginning of the show, Anna Oliff-Cooper describes her life as a busy doctor. She seems like the ultimate professional woman, juggling the demands of career and family.
The Oliff-Coopers (Anna, her sister, her sons, and her stuffy husband John) enter the Manor House playing the "aristocrats" and soon enough, this loving mother and doctor becomes lazy and vain. She never sees her children and doesnt care. She and her husband spend all day planning lavish balls, meeting Important People, and worrying about clothes and fashions. Meanwhile, the servants work 18 hour days, exhausted and resentful.
This is "reality tv" at its best, and like all good reality tv, the situations feel real enough to be uncomfortable. PBS's "Fronteir House" showed a disintegration of a family and a petty but vicious frontier feud. "Manor House" has even more memorable characters, including the pompous John Oliff-Cooper, who is soon spouting silly theories about social darwinism. Sir Edgar is the stern but softhearted butler, who at first sides with his masters, but ends up identifying intensely with the downstairs servants. There's an Indian tutor who is shunned by both the downstairs servants for his snobbery and the upstairs family for, well, his being a tutor. There's even a downstairs romance between the scullery maid and the hall boy. A sympathetic Edgar knows abot the romance (which would have been strictly forbidden) but looks the other way.
In the end, upstairs and downstairs look more even than one would imagine. The Oliff-Coopers are indolent, but not really happy -- their small son soon considers the downstairs servants more like family. Anna's sister is so unhappy she leaves the house. The downstairs servants fight but also bond tightly.
Overall, this was a wonderful series.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars MR. EDGAR RULES!, January 19, 2004

By	Shamus Macgillicuddy (Brooklyn, NY United States) - See all my reviews

MANOR HOUSE is probably the best reality show I've ever seen. So well-cast, so loaded with real social meaning, and full of the kind of tension that recent REAL WORLD incarnations could only hope and pray for. (Even if I had no interest in history, my interest in gossip could keep me watching these people circling each other for hours.) It's also more provocative in many ways than game-based reality programming, because it FEELS like there is a game going on in MANOR HOUSE all the time. You leave the show with a creepy sense of how much "play" there is involved in any kind of social living. It's also fascinating to see how hard those who benefit from social imbalance work to justify what is, in essence, just good luck.