Mapp & Lucia is perhaps best described as an affectionate salute to British eccentricity. It is packed with larger than life characters, who treat seemingly innocuous occasions such as village fetes as if they were matters of life and death. Based on the novels of EF Benson and set in the small southern England coastal town of Tilling (modelled after Rye) between the World Wars, Lucia (Geraldine McEwan)  and her good friend Georgie (Nigel Hawthorne) arrive determined to bring culture & gracious living to their new neighbours. Lucia  immediately schemes a bit to wrest control of the social and arts scene from the indomitable Miss Mapp (Prunella Scales) from whom she initially rents the summer cottage known as Mallards.

Lucia soon ousts Mapp as the reigning party hostess but Mapp doesn't give up that easily and a pitched battle for social supremacy ensues where only the etiquette and manners of the day prevent the animosity from boiling over. Village fetes, pageants and events, form the battleground with Geraldine McEwan and Nigel Hawthorne as a superb double-act. Babbling in baby-talk (using "me" instead of "I", "ickle" instead of "little"), their feigned innocence masks a rivalry, which comes to the fore in a hilarious piano duet which soon turns into a duel. Prunella Scales also excels as Lucia's formidable opponent, her smiling bonhomie failing to conceal her self-centred rudeness. A stock of excellent character actors fill in the numerous supporting roles, but it's the joyous moments when Mapp and Lucia lock horns that make this wonderful series such a classic.