Every historic house that relies on visitors for its survival would like a “Brideshead Revisited” or a “Downton Abbey” to raise its profile. Knebworth House has hosted Miss Marple, Poirot, Inspector Lynley, DCI John Barnaby, Detective Superintendent Christopher Foyle and others over the years, but we’ve yet to become the masthead for a television show. Last year, however, we did welcome “Brideshead Revisited” director Charles Sturridge and star Phoebe Nicholls (husband and wife since those heady 1980s days at Castle Howard) to Knebworth House to film Daphne Du Maurier’s “The Scapegoat” for ITV. The house features prominently in the production as the home of “Lady Spence”, played by Eileen Atkins. The film premieres on ITV on Sunday September 9th. Look out for it – as I’ve been told by a friend who saw a preview at the Du Maurier Festival in Cornwall in May that, as Cliff Michelmore would say, “it was really rather good”.
Henry Cobbold
www.knebworthhouse.com