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Peter Spence. Actor: Control Factor. Born in Toronto, Peter was sent by his high school drama teacher to audition for a new CBC television series. He won the regular leading role of Sydney Lowe in the popular war time series Home Fires (1980 - 1983).
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The Truth About Alex is a 1986 Canadian-American made-for-television drama film directed by Paul Shapiro. The movies stars Scott Baio as Brad and Peter Spence as Alex. It is based on the book Counterplay by Ann Snyder and Louis Pelletier.
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Peter Spence is a Canadian film and television actor. He is most noted for his roles as the title character in the 1986 television film The Truth About Alex , one of the first television films ever to address the subject of gay youth, [1] and as Jessie in the 1984 film Unfinished Business , for which he received a Genie Award nomination for ...
YearTitleRoleNotes2015Mormon ElderEpisode: "CQB"2015Mr. LombardEpisode: "The Great Red Dragon"2014RichardEpisode: "The Box"2008Phil2 episodes- Production
- Cast
- Plot
- Episodes
- Reception
- In Other Media
- Controversy
- Home Releases
- External Links
Development
Peter Spence first thought of the idea behind To the Manor Born in the early 1970s when he was working for BBC Radio as a gag writer. One of 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...
Filming
To the Manor Born was filmed on location in Cricket St Thomas, Somerset, and in Studio TC1 at the BBC's Television Centre in Shepherd's Bush, London. The manor, Cricket House, was at the time of the original series owned by the father-in-law of Peter Spence, the show's creator and writer. Some interior scenes were also filmed inside Cricket House. The Old Lodge, which on screen was at the end of the manor's drive, is in fact about one mile away and called West Lodge. A false gatepost was inst...
The cast is led by Penelope Keith as Audrey fforbes-Hamilton and Peter Bowles as Richard de Vere. 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...
Original series
To the Manor Born is set in the fictional village of Grantleigh in Somerset, near the fictional town of Marlbury. The series begins with the funeral of Marton (sic) fforbes-Hamilton, the Lord of the Manor of Grantleigh. Audrey, his widow (and apparently also his cousin), is far from distraught, as she now has control of the Grantleigh Manor Estate, which her family, the fforbes-Hamiltons, have controlled for 400 years. Her joy is short-lived though, as her solicitor, Arnold Plunkett, informs...
2007 Christmas special
As Richard and Audrey plan to celebrate their silver wedding anniversary, each planning a surprise party for the other, Richard confesses to Audrey that he owns Farmer Tom, a company that has been putting the neighbouring estates out of business. Audrey leaves him and goes to stay with Marjory, much to the latter's displeasure. Richard visits his mother's grave to develop a plan to win Audrey back. He decides to allow a rock concert to be held on the estate. When the licence application is up...
To the Manor Born ran for three series and one Christmas special from 30 September 1979 to 29 November 1981. Each episode is half an hour long. The first series aired for seven episodes on Sundays at 8.45 pm, the second series for six episodes on Sundays at 8.35 pm and the seven-episode Series Three on Sundays at 7.15 pm. The Christmas special aire...
Original series
The programme was very popular with viewers. Several episodes received extremely high audience figures, especially the first series. This was partly due to the fact that ITV, the main rival channel to BBC1 in the United Kingdom, was in the middle of a protracted strike which started in early August 1979. This saw nearly all of the local ITV companies go off air, with no programmes being aired from the network (except Channel Television in the Channel Islands), leaving only BBC 1 and BBC 2as t...
2007 Christmas special
Writing in the Sunday Expresson 30 December 2007, Marshall Julius described the 2007 Christmas special as "so cosy and old-fashioned that I could easily have dismissed it with a cynical wave". However, he says he found himself enjoying it "about halfway through" and said "it was a real pleasure to see Peter Bowles and Penelope Keith, for both of whom I feel great affection, once again sparring on the small screen". Julius finished his review by commenting "Not that I'm saying I'd like a whole...
Novelisations
The writer Peter Spence wrote two books that accompanied To the Manor Born. While they were based on the TV episodes, both books did differ with added conversations, changed storylines and the characters being given different personality traits. The first book, published in 1979 by Arrow Books, is entitled To the Manor Born and is based on the first series episodes 1, 2, 4, 6 and 7. In this book, Brabinger's first name, which is never mentioned in the TV series, is revealed as Bertram and Ned...
Film version
A film version was announced by the Rank Organisation at the Cannes Film Festivalin 1980, but then was abandoned when Rank pulled out of filmmaking.
Radio version
In 1997, 16 years after the original series of To the Manor Born ended on television, ten 30-minute episodes were recorded for radio, the programme's original intended medium. The episodes, originally aired on Saturdays on BBC Radio 2 from 25 January to 29 March 1997, were written by Peter Spence, six adapted from TV episodes and four new episodes. Keith and Thorne returned as Audrey and Marjory, while Keith Barron replaced Bowles as Richard. Other actors, including Frank Middlemass and Nicho...
The character of Richard de Vere, and his fictional company Cavendish Foods were reportedly a thinly veiled dig at businessman Sir James Goldsmith and his company Cavenham Foods.
All three series, including the 1979 and 2007 Christmas specials, of To the Manor Born have been released in the UK (Region 2). The first series and the 1979 Christmas special were released on 5 May 2003, followed by Series Two on 29 December 2003 and Series Three on 14 June 2004. The DVDs feature an interview with Peter Spence.The 2007 Christmas s...
To the Manor Born at BBC OnlineTo the Manor Born at BBC Online(Archived BBC Comedy page)To the Manor Born at IMDbTo the Manor Born at British Comedy GuideReleased in 1989 and from his debut album of the same title (I'll Be There), the album won him the award of 'Best Reggae Album'. Still sounding as sweet today as he did 20 years ago, Peter...
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People also ask
Where is Peter Spence now?
What happened to Alex Spence after 'the truth about Alex'?
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Where did Michael Spence go to school?
Peter Spence is a Canadian film and television actor. He is most noted for his roles as the title character in the 1986 television film The Truth About Alex, one of the first television films ever to address the subject of gay youth, and as Jessie in the 1984 film Unfinished Business, for which he received a Genie Award nomination for Best ...
