British television satirical comedy based on the novel by Tom Sharpe, about adulterous MP Sir Giles Lynchwood (George Cole) and his harridan of a wife, Maud (Geraldine James). Despising the ancient country pile he calls home, Rising Gorge, Lynchwood concocts a plan to have a bypass built straight through it, enabling him to collect large sums of money in compensation. When Maud hears of the plan she decides drastic measures are needed to keep the house; enlisting the help of her mysterious groundsman, Blott (David Suchet), her plan is to divorce Lycnhwood and turn Rising Gorge into a safari park, leaving Lycnhwood and the corrupt motorway officials to counter her any way they can. And, unbeknownst to Maud, in Blott's shady past is a debt he owes to Sir Giles Lynchwood . . .