Mapp & Lucia

The Best Thing Ever.

This is really a wonderful series about the battles and escapades of the 1930s British upper middle class. Follow the humorous escapades of Miss Elizabeth Mapp and Mrs. Emmeline ("Lucia") Lucas as they strive to become the social queen of Tilling's society. Based on the original stories by E.F. Benson, Mapp & Lucia will not leave you disappointed. If you haven't seen Mapp & Lucia yet, you will never know what you are missing.

A wonderful show for anybody wanting a good laugh, required viewing for any British drama fan.

10 stars.

This was first shown on Channel 4 here in the UK in about 1985, I don't know if it was ever repeated. I missed it then and it wasn't until I read the books several years later that I started to look out for it. I recently got the entire series on video (would have been better on DVD) and it is a hoot.

The main characters were just as I pictured then and the casting was spot on. Geraldine McEwen (not yet a Dame alas, apropos a previous comment) and Nigel Hawthorne (who is indeed Sir Nigel) shine as Lucia and Georgie but perhaps they had easier characters to portray and it is Prunella Scales as Mapp who give the best and most difficult characterisation, though all the parts are really caricatures. Everyone must have had such fun making this and Lucia's costumes are something to behold.

The exteriors are mostly Rye in Sussex, where the author E.F. Benson lived (and was the Mayor). Lucia he probably based on himself, which begs the question who was Georgie in real life?!. You can go to the house he lived in which was clearly Mallards in the books and is now National Trust property. Henry James lived there before him. However, it wasn't used as the exterior here.

Some characters from the books are dropped in the series, the Padre's wife and the Wyses's daughter, but you don't miss them. Traces of McEewen's power mad and devious Lucia can be seen in her portrayal of the mad religous mother in 'Oranges are not the Only Fruit' (1990).

Sip tea and cakes with friends on a wet Sunday afternoon as you watch this - it'll cheer you up no end.

If this is a "poor adaptation" then by all means I will have to get my hands on the original books because I really loved this production! It's an absolute hoot of a good time! I find it hard to believe it is over twenty years old! It's seems like it could have been made just yesterday.The character studies are pretty much timeless. London Weekend certainly didn't skimp on the sets or costumes and the acting was all around superb. It was a little difficult at first to adjust to Mapp and Lucia's exaaaaaggerated voices but by episode two I was laughing so hard...I no longer cared. As a comedy it succeeds on all levels but it's also somewhat intriguing as a period study as well. It recreates a time in post WWI England when people could be leisurely enough to care about the superficial things of everyday village life and when class was so important it actually dictated how people related to each other. Before the fall I guess you could say. Similar to east coast America before WWII or the over the top Regan years and eons before 9/11.

The cast includes the many favorites that others have already listed but I have to reiterate the brilliance of Nigel Hawthorne as Georgino mio and the endearing pair of Mary MacLeod and Cecily Hobbs as Godiva and Quaint Irene...in fact all the minor characters were brilliant and so believable I felt like they were family. I am truly sorry the series didn't go on to include all the books. All I can say is it must have been a lot of fun to act in this series and if you enjoy light hearted English comedy...you will really want to take a look at these episodes on DVD.

This is the video set I'd want if stranded on a desert island. Along with the books, of course!

Every few years I treat myself to Mapp and Lucia I and II, and each time I find it riveting. I'm having a go at it again now upon the 20th anniversary of its making. Dame Geraldine was born to play Lucia! She is so affected, so sly--but so admirable! Clearly in charge, her war with Mapp has us wondering who will win the current battle but we are never in doubt about who has the upper hand in the war.

I could watch it for the costumes and settings alone. Dame Geraldine has that beautiful model thin figure that shows off the fabulous ensembles so well. I can't imagine what the costume budget was for this series but she changes clothes in each scene so it must have been generous. Even Reg Cartright's wonderful illustration that is shown at the credits is bright and visually interesting. Truly, the art direciton of this production is superb!

But visuals aside, this comedy of manners is hysterically funny. I am glued to the tube each time I watch it.

I was a card carrying member of the Tilling Society for a while, an association that actively worships "Fred" (E.F. Benson, author of the Lucia novels) and that has a large annual gathering in Rye, England which is the real life setting of the fictional Tilling.

Lucia and her small society engenders this kind of cult following. Watch the series, read the books. If you like wry English humor and "village genre" literature, you'll love this set!

People seem to be trying to analyse this series to death, at the end of the day it is simply a wonderful comedy of manners, wonderfully acted and beautifully presented. The principles are all actors of great experience and charisma, working with almost infallible material. If you want slapstick or alternative humour, this is not the place for you! If you love watching a comedy where it is the actors who make the script brilliantly funny, rather than simply being given punchlines to deliver, then you should be in seventh heaven. Watch, relax, enjoy.