Phil Spencers Stately Homes: Series 2

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[edit] General Information

History Documentary hosted by Phil Spencer, published by Channel 4 in 2018 - English narration

[edit] Cover

[edit] Information

Property enthusiast and surveyor Phil Spencer returns for a grand tour of four of our country's finest – and most extravagant – country houses, to uncover the dramatic stories of their creation. Phil travels around Britain exploring some of the country's finest stately homes and gardens. Each episode focuses on a particular building, discovering the hidden history behind the commission of the structure and what materials were used in its construction. The host discusses the technical challenges the labour force were likely to have faced when building at such a monumental scale. Phil will be given VIP access and a key to the archive rooms to delve into the secrets of the house, including eye watering building costs. Taking each house back to the drawing board, Phil is given unprecedented access into fascinating stately home archives, to reveal the incredible ambition of the house's creators, as well as the monumental quantities of materials, labour – and money – involved in turning their flights of fancy into bricks and mortar. In each episode, Phil lifts the facade of a house unique in its ambition, scale and taste. On his journey, Phil will visit the decadent stately homes of Longleat, Belvoir Castle, Blenheim Palace and Houghton Hall. With a chance to try his hand at craft and restoration, and insight from the current custodians, (in many cases descendants of the original owners) Phil will discover how these homes became seats of power – and play – and what the buildings and estates are really like to own. Finally he attempts to put a figure on the original building costs and what they represent in today's money. Phil says; "It's an absolute privilege to work on this series again and to have behind the scenes access to the houses, families and people that live and work there and to have an understanding of what it takes to look after these stately homes. It's fascinating to delve into the architectural history to discover what it took to build these homes, and the stories behind those that lived there." A Mayfly Television Ltd Production for Channel 4

[edit] Longleat

Property enthusiast Phil Spencer has to mind the lions as he starts the second series surveying the lavish interiors and elaborate gardens at Longleat. Phil hears tales of lovesick ghosts as he surveys Longleat's lavish interior decor and some of the most elaborate gardening in history. Phil Spencer's Stately Homes drops by the famous mansion and takes an intimate tour of the house, giving us a glimpse of the history and beauty that have been preserved for hundreds of years. The Longleat House was one of the very first and finest prodigy houses built during the Elizabethan period by Sir John Thynn. During Phil Spencer's visit to the Longleat archives, he found out that Sir John Thynn bought the property in 1531 for L53 during England's peaceful and quiet period. And since he was hugely ambitious and very good at making money, he built an empire quite quickly—and so the Longleat House was born. Longleat House took 12 years to build, from 1568 to 1580 by 112 crafstmen and laborers working round the clock. There are a total of 128 rooms and 365 windows imported from Spain. In total, the Longleat House stands at 3,486 m2, and apart from the whole mansion, it comes with 9,000 acres of estate that's used as gardens and safari. For 450 years, this gargantuan mansion stood proud in Wiltshire, England, where generations of the Thynn family lived. Today, the Longleat House continues to be a jewel in the English countryside, open for public tours and visits. Who would've thought that this property that cost more than L31 million to build (in today's money) was built by a servant?

[edit] Belvoir Castle

When is a stately home not a stately home? When it's a stately castle. In Leicestershire, Phil tries some medieval pest control and finds evidence of an aristocratic sex scandal and a lost railway.
Belvoir in Leicestershire is the Manners family's home and the seat of the Dukes of Rutland. In 1799, the 5th Duke and his ambitious wife, Lady Elizabeth Howard, turned it into their own personal fairy tale castle. A sneak peek behind the scenes at Belvoir Castle reveals how a series of powerful Duchesses masterminded its transformation from 'old-fashioned' stately pile to Britain's most romantic castle.
Phil discovers how the fifth Duchess and her husband John Henry Manners sold the equivalent of L283million worth of land and property to turn Belvoir into their neo-Gothic dream home, played host to King George IV, and - in a sign of their lavish tastes - ploughed through 1,600 bottles of wine and 46 gallons of port and rum at the two-week long bash they threw to mark the Duke's 21st birthday.

[edit] Houghton Hall

Phil is off to Norfolk and a grand pile built by Britain's first prime minister, Sir Robert Walpole. He discovers jaw dropping costs, bedrooms, and a giant silver bed. Houghton Hall is the residence of the 7th Marquess of Cholmondeley. However, this grandiose country house in Norfolk was originally built, in 1722, for Sir Robert Walpole, the controversial first Prime Minister of Britain. Phil is keener than ever to uncover the building costs, because they were Sir Robert's best kept secret. As a guest of its current owner, Lord David Cholmondeley, Phil uncovers a house that was clearly built without any limit on costs: it features some of the finest carved stone interiors ever created, jaw-dropping bedrooms, 'beer taps' in a marble dining room, and the most extravagant thing Phil has ever seen: a 17-foot silver-embroidered bed. It's no wonder that Sir Robert wanted to keep the costs - and how he raised the money - a secret; the truth could have rocked Parliament. Phil explores Houghton's turbulent centuries of life since Sir Robert's time; from the gambling grandson who sold a world-class art collection - and even the front steps - to settle massive debts, to how it was even offered for sale in a flowery sales brochure, which Phil says is an estate agency treasure in itself. Phil also discovers how fortunate it can be to have royal neighbours nearby at Sandringham.

[edit] Blenheim Palace

Phil explores the magnificent Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire, 60 miles (100 kms) NW of London, and gets to know its formidable 18th century builders, John Churchill, the first Duke of Marlborough, and his wife Sarah. Home of the 12th Duke and Duchess of Marlborough and the birthplace of Sir Winston Churchill, this masterpiece of 18th century baroque architecture boasts over 300 years of history. Lady Henrietta Spencer-Churchill, Phil's host, explains that the palace was a gift to the Marlborough family from their friend Queen Anne, a monument to the Duke's victory over the French at the Battle of Blenheim in 1704. Blenheim Palace, designed for the 1st Duke of Marlborough by Sir John Vanbrugh and Nicholas Hawksmoor, is not only an outstanding exemplar of English baroque architecture, and also one of the best documented. Built between 1705 and 1722, it is one of England's largest houses. However, in the archive Phil discovers the build was plagued with problems: fall-outs with the architect, unpaid builders and costs beyond even the wildest estimates. Phil tots up a total in today's money that makes Blenheim the most expensive house he's ever visited.

[edit] Screenshots

[edit] Technical Specs

Video Codec: x264 CABAC High@L4.1
Video Bitrate: 3 000 Kbps
Video Resolution: 1920x1080
Display Aspect Ratio: 16:9
Frames Per Second: 25.000 fps
Audio Codec: AAC (LC)
Audio Bitrate: 128 kb/s VBR 48.0 kHz
Audio Streams: 2
Audio Languages: english
RunTime Per Part: 47 min
Number Of Parts: 4
Part Size: 1.03 GB
Source: WEB DL
Capper: DocFreak08