Linda B emailed to say that U.S. viewers can hear Richard’s narrative on “The Regency House Party” which will screen on Wednesday nights at 9.00pm on PBS. A review of the program from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is included below:

TV Review: ‘Regency House Party’ a royal treat for viewers

Sunday, October 31, 2004

By Rob Owen, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

“Regency House Party”
When: 9 p.m. Wednesdays through Nov. 24 on WQED.
Narrator: Richard E. Grant.

It would be too easy to call “Regency House Party” the PBS version of ABC’s “The Bachelor.” But there are some similarities.

“Regency House Party” is the latest in a string of PBS programs that can only be called highbrow reality shows. There’s no prize to compete for and no challenges that lead to people being voted off the show, but like its commercial brethren, the appeal, in part, is the voyeur factor.

To be sure, there is some educational value in these PBS shows. Both the home-grown American editions (“Frontier House,” “Colonial House”) and the British imports (“The 1900 House,” “Manor House” and now “Regency House Party”) cultivate a greater understanding of the culture in a specific historical time period.

This go around we’re in England circa 1811. King George III has gone mad and his womanizing son, the Prince Regent, sets the pace for an era of decadence. Prim and proper is out, dresses that accentuate women’s bosoms are in.

But there are still rules of decorum in “Regency House Party” (9 p.m. Wednesdays this week through Nov. 24), and they mostly relate to social class.

Only the first and third episode of the series was made available for review, but “Regency House Party” is easily superior to “Colonial House,” the most recent and the most disappointing of these PBS reality endeavors.

Participants in this British experiment spent nine summer weeks at an opulent country home, living in the style of the period, from games and exercises to chamber pots.

This summer house party features five single men and five single women who take on roles in a variety of social classes. Chris Gorell Barnes, a 29-year-old advertising executive, plays the role of “Party’s” host. He’s also the highest-ranking male in the home’s social strata.

Barnes is joined by four men and five women, each with her own chaperone.

“The only way to get on in this life is to marry someone with class or money,” says narrator Richard E. Grant, “and preferably both.”

And so the attempts at courtship begin, although the ever-present chaperones make it difficult for the 21st-century participants to partake in many of the rituals of modern dating. To make matters worse, the men and women usually see one another only in the evening and are kept separated during the day.

Early on this social experiment appears to veer off course when one of the gentlemen falls for one of the chaperones rather than her charge. That’s the kind of unexpected twist TV viewers in 2004 will appreciate, accustomed as they are to rose ceremonies and evictions.

And it turns out that comparison to “The Bachelor,” while broad, isn’t altogether inaccurate, according to executive producer Jody Sheff.

“During the Regency, people were thrown together under intense and prescribed circumstances and in a very short time, with very little to go on, they had to find a match,” Sheff said in a PBS press release. “The big difference is that now the romance lasts until the programs air. Back then, your decision was for the rest of your life.”

I suppose contestants who are foolhardy enough to search for love on a modern reality show can take some solace in the courtship choices they have that were not afforded to their ancestors.

Thanks for the news, Linda.