When the sun goes down over the Easter weekend, take your seat in front of the TV and enjoy historic Rye as it might have been in the 1930s – or as popular local author EF Benson suggests it was.
Benson’s characters “Miss Mapp” and “Lucia” are back on the TV screen for three nights running, starting Easter Saturday and continuing Sunday and Monday at 9pm on the Drama channel.
Historic Rye with its cobbled streets and ancient houses, where Benson lived in Lamb House (now a National Trust property), is thinly disguised as “Tilling” in his novels, and the BBC series was filmed in Rye in 2014.
If you have never been to Rye, this is a good opportunity to see what the ancient Cinque Port has to offer. And if you already live here, seek out friends and neighbours among the many “extras” – and spot the houses used for filming.
Anna Chancellor and Miranda Richardson star in this comedy of manners set in the 1930s, as two women locked in a game of one-upmanship in the fictitious seaside town of Tilling.
Miss Elizabeth Mapp has reigned supreme, and has even more reason to gloat when she lets her house for the summer to a desirable tenant, Mrs Emmeline Lucas (Lucia).
But, before long, Mapp is reeling from her new rival’s dinner parties across the street and seeks revenge – and, as Lucia becomes bossy at her musical evenings, the locals are ripe to revolt.
Photos: Rye News Library