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->''"How many times have I told you, NOT in the castle!"''
-->-- '''Sir Thomas Grey''', Lord of Covington Cross Castle, Knight of the Realm and irate parent

This short-lived British-American adventure series, which aired on Creator/{{ABC}} in 1992, followed the lives, loves and deadly feuds of the Grey family of Covington Cross, England circa [[TheLateMiddleAges 1392]].

The head of the family is the beleaguered Sir Thomas Grey (Nigel Terry), who is called upon to deal with his children: Armus (Tim Killick), the eldest son who has abjured knighthood in favor of cooking -- and eating; Richard (Jonathan Firth), the impetuous, impulsive second son; Cedric (Creator/GlennQuinn), destined for the Church but a terror with the ladies; and Eleanor (Creator/IoneSkye), the fiery redhead daughter who'd rather be one of the boys. There is also a fourth son, William (Ben Porter), who departs for the wars after the pilot; and Lady Elizabeth (Cheri Lunghi), Sir Thomas' continuing love interest from the castle next over.

Sometimes referred to in the UsefulNotes/SocietyForCreativeAnachronism as "Beverly Hills 902 A.D.", and any resemblance to actual 14th-century England is purely coincidental – but what the heck!

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!!Tropes seen in this series:
* AbhorrentAdmirer: {{Invoked}} by the Mother Superior at a local convent. Suspicious that Cedric is faking his injury to seduce her convent girls, the old lady plays at being a DirtyOldWoman and loudly invites him to bed her. He's on his feet and out the window pretty quickly after that.
* ActionGirl: Eleanor, who hardly ever wears dresses, totes around a crossbow wherever she goes, and is often seen practicing swordplay in the yard.
* ArchEnemy: The Greys are constantly feuding with John Mullens, their neighbor. There's plenty to feud about since he has designs on Thomas's estate, his son was killed by Eleanor, and [[StarCrossedLovers Cedric romantically pursues his daughter Alexandra]].
* AwLookTheyReallyDoLoveEachOther: A platonic example amidst the Grey family. The siblings squabble like there's no tomorrow and their father complains constantly about how insufferable they are -- but it's obvious they all adore each other, and always have each other's backs.
* BreakOutTheMuseumPiece: When a bunch of nobles are held hostage, the Grey family has to save the day using weapons from the Duke of Arundel's private collection. Two-hundred-year-old weapons are still museum pieces, even in the middle ages!
* BriefAccentImitation: Eleonor pretends to be Genevieve by attempting a French accent to get their carriage let into Mullens's castle in the pilot. Her brothers remark that it's the worst attempt at an accent they've ever heard.
* CartwrightCurse: Any girl who gets involved with a Grey boy will not outlast the episode, nor will any boy attracted to Eleanor.
* TheCasanova: Cedric is ''really'' not suited to the Church.[[note]]Or was. Lack of chastity among the clergy was a notable problem throughout the middle ages.[[/note]]
* ChekhovsLecture: In the pilot, Cedric is being taught about the fall of Troy. Although he ignores the lesson, the friar reminds him of it later when they need a plan to sneak into Mullens's castle.
* ChekhovsSkill: Eleonor's proficiency with the crossbow, established in the pilot, comes back into play when Henry tries to stab her father in the back after their duel.
* DecemberDecemberRomance: By today's standards, Thomas and Elizabeth are only just edging past middle-age; in the time in which they live, they would definitely be considered to share a late-in-life romance.
* DreadfulMusician: Judging by her brothers' faces, Eleanor is this when she takes it upon herself to learn the harpsichord.
* FacePalm: Sir Thomas too many times to list.
* KnightInShiningArmor: Obviously.
* FieryRedhead: Eleanor is the only redhead in the family and boy is she fiery.
* {{Flynning}}: And how! The opening sequence of the pilot is a spectacular and no doubt horribly inaccurate swordfight between two fully armored knights ended by Sir Thomas' outraged: "How many times have I told you NOT in the castle!"
* FoodFight: The Covington kids get into these ''all'' the time.
* ForgottenFallenFriend: What's most bewildering about Mullens's hatred of the Greys is that after his only son dies at Eleanor's hands in the pilot episode, it's ''never'' brought up again!
* GentleGiant: Armus, who'd rather cook than fight but is darn good at both.
* IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy: Armus falls in love with a young woman and convinces Richard to romance her on his behalf. Unfortunately, the woman in question prefers Richard's advances, and after being furious at his brother for a little while, he arranges it so the two of them can meet in private and confess their love for each other.
* MetaCasting: This isn't the first, or even the most famous, time that Nigel Terry and Cheri Lunghi have played a noble couple [[Film/{{Excalibur}} in a Medieval period piece]].
* TheMiddleAges: Originally intended to be set in the 1300s, they decided it wasn't important to stick to a specific time period and just went with a generic medieval setting.
* MoralityPet: Mullens truly loves his daughter Alexandra, enough that he doesn't want her to know just how terrible he really is.
* NotMeThisTime: When a furious father bursts into Covington Cross and accuses Thomas's "scheming, lecherous son" of seducing his daughter, Thomas's first reaction is to yell: "CEDRIC!" Turns out it wasn't Cedric that time.
* OnlySaneMan: Sir Thomas again.
* OohMeAccentsSlipping:
** Eleonor is the only one played by an American (although her actress was born in Britain) and her accent slips through on occasion.
** Glenn Quinn's Irish accent slips through occasionally too.
* ParentalFavoritism: Thomas is a good father to all his children, but Cedric and Eleanor are clearly his favorites: the former because he's the most like his late wife, and the latter because she's DaddysGirl.
* PerfectlyArrangedMarriage: Sir Thomas and his late wife Anne were arranged, and didn't even know each other beforehand, but were very much in love.
* ProperLady: Elizabeth, from head to toes. She's never ''not'' gracious, elegant and calm.
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: [[ThePatriarch Thomas]] commands the respect of his children and household staff by being firm, just and gentle. Lady Elizabeth has a good head on her shoulders too.
* RebelliousPrincess: Eleanor. Not strictly a princess, but a noblewoman who hates the gender expectations laid upon her, and is largely indulged by her father.
* RebuiltPedestal: Eleonor is initially horrified that her father would basically sell her into marriage to a horrible man like Henry. Her respect for him is rebuilt when he breaks the engagement and agrees to face Henry in a duel to the death, even offering to marry Henry after all to spare him.
* RomancingTheWidow: Thomas to Elizabeth, who has apparently already had ''three'' husbands. And technically she's romancing the ''widower'' since Thomas has a late spouse of his own.
* SilverFox: Thomas, played by the handsome Nigel Terry, is pursued romantically by Elizabeth and is still considered attractive.
* SoProudOfYou: Thomas to his children, and they to him practically OncePerEpisode.
* TheThreeFacesOfEve: In the pilot episode, there's Eleonor as the BrattyTeenageDaughter (Child), Elizabeth as the voice of reason (Wife) and Genevieve who turns out to be a FemmeFatale (Seductress).
* TomboyAndGirlyGirl: Unusual example in that it is a generational contrast instead of one between peers. Eleanor is the young tomboy, while Elizabeth is the older girly girl. Thomas futilely hopes she'll pass some of her femininity onto his headstrong daughter.

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