The Georgian House

Did You Know?

• Only two episodes existed in the HTV archive until a home-recorded videotape of episode 3 surfaced.
• Network DVD released the three surviving episodes on a single DVD on 24 May 2010.
• PDF files of the scripts for the lost episodes 2, 4, 5 and 6 allow the narrative to be understood.

Plot

The story concerns two students, Dan and Abbie, who work as tour guides at a recently refurbished Georgian House in Bristol. They discover an African wood carving that transports them back 200 years to a time when the house was owned by the Leadbetter family. Abbie is accepted as a visiting cousin, while Dan becomes a bullied houseboy. They meet a young Negro slave, Ngo, owned by the Leadbetters. Abbie wants to set Ngo free, while Dan wants to return to their own time. They learn that Ngo is the only one who can help them get back. Abbie and Dan succeed in freeing Ngo and return to their own time.

Background

Commissioned by HTV as a seven-episode series set in the West Country, the production was limited to four sets, no location filming, and videotape only. With the serial needed quickly, writer Jill Laurimore and co-writer Harry Moore had to develop the plot and all seven scripts in a short time. Laurimore, who had visited the real Georgian House in Bristol as a child, found the building fascinating. Faced with the restriction of just four sets, she decided to tell the story across two centuries—the 1970s and the 1770s—using the same spaces. HTV insisted on linking the fictional house to the actual Bristol landmark, which was offering guided tours at the time, rather than using a generic name. The studio sets meticulously copied the real drawing room and hallways. Laurimore later regretted that the budget spent on these sets could have paid for a few location shots, which she believed would have enhanced the show. The teenage leads were Spencer Banks, previously known for his role in Timeslip, and Adrienne Byrne. Jack Watson portrayed the Caretaker, and Brinsley Forde, later famous with the band Aswad, played the slave boy Ngo. The Stage praised the series as visually rich, sumptuously produced, and a quality production.