The wife, Liza Goddard, is Hilary, the lady of the manor, with her husband Victor (former Dynasty star Christopher Cazenove) ruing the day he ever opened their stately home to the public.
Their life together is turned upside-down by the dashing – and calculating –tourist Charles, played by Jack Ellis, who audiences may know from Bad Girls and Prime Suspect.
The excruciating tension in the first couple of scenes is uncomfortable to say the least, with the perfectly-timed silences saying more than any dialogue could manage.
While Victor tries to sort out his wife's dilemma over leaving him for the passion of Charles over love for her husband in a most English way, the American banks on the whirlwind romance and a new life for Hilary winning the day.
The comedy is 53 years old but every one of the sentiments holds true today. Without spoiling the ending it's fair to say that after four days with the American, Hilary gets her chance to find out if the grass really is greener – but does she take it?
Superb comedy lines are delivered by Sophie Ward as Hilary's old friend (and Victor's old flame) Hattie, and by the butler, Sellars (Jack Fagan). But the butlers always play it for laughs, don't they?
