Mapp and Lucia is a collective name for a series of novels by E. F. Benson
The novels feature humorous incidents in the lives of (mainly) upper-middle-class British people in the 1920s and 1930s, vying for social prestige and "one-upmanship" in an atmosphere of extreme cultural snobbery. Several of them are set in the small seaside town of Tilling, closely based on Rye, East Sussex, where Benson lived for a number of years and (like Lucia) served as mayor.
A TV series based on the novels, produced by London Weekend Television, was filmed in Rye and neighbouring Winchelsea in the 1980s, and starred Prunella Scales as Mapp, and Geraldine McEwan as Lucia.
The BBC has announced plans to adapt the books for a new series on BBC 1 with filming expected to take place in the early summer.
The cottage is only a 20 minute drive from Rye, so, any visitors staying at the cottage at this time may have the opportunity to witness some of the shoots or see the locations used.
The clip, above, from the LWT series has some of the exterior locations in Rye used for the LWT version.
As usual, there is a connection to Doctor Who. Steve Pemberton is to adapt the Mapp And Lucia novels. He was, of course, one of the co-writers of The League of Gentleman with Doctor Who writer, Mark Gatiss.
