MANOR HOUSE Online takes the series’ experiment further and makes it personal for site visitors.  Quizzes and other activities that assess personality types and family backgrounds help visitors determine where they would fit in at a magnificent English country estate during the Edwardian era – upstairs with the aristocrats or downstairs with the servants. Visitors can also study rulebooks on Edwardian etiquette used by the participants in the series.
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These questions and many more can be explored by visiting the companion Web site to MANOR HOUSE, the latest PBS “hands-on history” series from Thirteen/WNET New York.  

The series re-creates the rigid social hierarchy of English life at the dawn of the 20th century through a challenging time-travel experiment that puts modern individuals into the roles of masters and servants in an authentic Edwardian mansion.  MANOR HOUSE Online, produced by Channel 4 Television Corporation, is now online at http://www.pbs.org/manorhouse/.

MANOR HOUSE, the series, a Wall to Wall production for Channel 4 Television Corporation in association with Thirteen/WNET New York, premieres Monday, April 28, through Wednesday, April 30, at 8 p.m. (ET) on PBS (check local listings).

MANOR HOUSE Online takes the series’ experiment further and makes it personal for site visitors.  Quizzes and other activities that assess personality types and family backgrounds help visitors determine where they would fit in at a magnificent English country estate during the Edwardian era – upstairs with the aristocrats or downstairs with the servants. Visitors can also study rulebooks on Edwardian etiquette used by the participants in the series.  They might learn, for example, that servants are permitted only one bath per week.  A virtual tour of Manderston, the 109-room Scottish mansion used in the series, makes site visitors feel right at home – in the opulent dining hall or perhaps even in the stables, depending on the visitor.    

MANOR HOUSE Online puts the series into a more detailed context by offering interactive history lessons about the Edwardian era.  Through timelines and other materials, visitors learn about important people, trends and events that helped define the era.  They can get to know King Edward VII, the last British monarch to give his name to an era, or examine the women’s suffrage movement or the extreme dichotomy between rich and poor.

After immersing themselves in the history, site visitors can take a bite out of Edwardian life by concocting recipes from the period.  Devilled kidneys, anyone?  Or how about a pint of dandelion and burdock beer?     

Web site visitors can also find more information about MANOR HOUSE, the series, including biographies of the participants, clips from their personal video diaries, and broadcast dates.  Teachers can use the Web site to bring the Edwardian era into classrooms with history lessons that take learning out of textbooks and put a wealth of fascinating information into the hands of students.  

On April 29 and 30, Web surfers can meet the MANOR HOUSE cast in chats on Washingtonpost.com.  To participate in these 'live online' discussions, go to http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/liveonline/?nav=hptop.  or visit MANOR HOUSE Online for more information.

MANOR HOUSE Online is a production of Channel 4 Television Corporation.

Thirteen/WNET New York is one of the key program providers for public television, bringing such acclaimed series as Nature, Great Performances, American Masters, Charlie Rose, Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly, Stage on Screen, EGG the arts show, and Cyberchase – as well as the work of Bill Moyers – to audiences nationwide.  As the flagship public broadcaster in the New York, New Jersey and Connecticut metro area, Thirteen reaches millions of viewers each week, airing the best of American public television along with its own local productions such as The Ethnic Heritage Specials, The New York Walking Tours, New York Voices, Reel New York, and its MetroArts/Thirteen cable arts programming.  With educational and community outreach projects that extend the impact of its television productions, Thirteen takes television “out of the box.”  And as broadcast and digital media converge, Thirteen is blazing trails in the creation of Web sites, enhanced television, CD-ROMs, DVD-ROMs, educational software, and other cutting-edge media products.  More information about Thirteen can be found at:  www.thirteen.org.

PBS, headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia, is a private, nonprofit media enterprise owned and operated by the nation’s 350 public television stations. Serving nearly 90 million people each week, PBS enriches the lives of all Americans through quality programs and education services on noncommercial television, the Internet and other media. More information about PBS is available at pbs.org, the leading dot-org Web site on the Internet
 
 

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