History Series / CovingtonCross

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

This short-lived British-American series followed the lives, loves and deadly feuds of the Grey family of Covington Cross circa 1392. The head of the family is the beleaguered Sir Thomas Grey, who is called upon to deal with Armus, the eldest son who has abjured knighthood in favor of cooking - and eating; Richard, the impetuous, impulsive second son; Cedric, destined for the Church but a terror with the ladies, and Eleanor, the fiery redhead daughter who'd rather be one of the boys. There is also a fourth son, William, who departs for the wars after the pilot, and Sir Thomas' continuing love interest, the Lady Elizabeth from the castle next over.

!Tropes

* AbandonedSet: The village sets were left standing for some time after the show was axed partway through its one and only season, and were notably used to represent a GELF settlement on another planet in the ''Series/RedDwarf'' episode "[[Recap/RedDwarfSeasonVI Emohawk: Polymorph II]]".

* FiveManBand:
** TheHero - Richard Grey
** TheLancer - William Grey (disappeared after pilot and was replaced by Armus)
** TheBigGuy - Armus Grey
** TheChick - Eleanor Grey
** TheSmartGuy - Not to mention smart aleck, Cedric Grey.

* 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.

This short-lived British series followed the lives, loves and deadly feuds of the Grey family of Covington Cross circa 1392. The head of the family is the beleaguered Sir Thomas Grey, who is called upon to deal with Armus, the eldest son who has abjured knighthood in favor of cooking - and eating; Richard, the impetuous, impulsive second son; Cedric, destined for the Church but a terror with the ladies, and Eleanor, the fiery redhead daughter who'd rather be one of the boys. There is also a fourth son, William, who departs for the wars after the pilot, and Sir Thomas' continuing love interest, the Lady Elizabeth from the castle next over.

This short-lived British series followed the lives, loves and deadly feuds of the Grey family of Covington Cross circa 1392. The head of the family is the beleaguered Sir Thomas Grey, who is called upon to deal with Armus, the eldest son who has abjured knighthood in favor of cooking - and eating; William, the impetuous, impulsive second son; Cedric, destined for the Church but a terror with the ladies, and Eleanor, the fiery redhead daughter who'd rather be one of the boys. There is also a fourth son, Richard, who departs for the wars after the pilot, and Sir Thomas' continuing love interest, the Lady Elizabeth from the castle next over.

* FoodFight!: The Covington kids get into these ''all'' the time.

* {{Foodfight!}}: The Covington kids get into these ''all'' the time.

* RelationshipWritingFumble: More to do with the actors rather than the writing, but the body language between Eleanor and Cedric is downright romantic in the pilot episode -- something that was dialed back considerably in all subsequent episodes.

* {{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!'

* AbhorrentAdmirer: {{Invoked}} by the Mother Superior at a local convent. Suspicious that Cedric is faking his injury and seducing her convent girls, the old lady plays at being a DirtyOldWoman and loudly tries to seduce him. He's on his feet and out the window pretty quickly after that.

** TheLancer - William Grey, (disappeared after pilot and was replaced by Armus)

** TheSmartGuy - not to mention smart aleck, Cedric Grey.

* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Patriarchal 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.

* 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, a woman that Thomas hopes will pass some of her femininity onto his headstrong daughter.

* AbhorrentAdmired: {{Invoked}} by the Mother Superior at a local convent. Suspicious that Cedric is faking his injury and seducing her convent girls, the old lady plays at being a DirtyOldWoman and loudly tries to seduce him. He's on his feet and out the window pretty quickly after that.

!!EXAMPLES

* Eleanor definitely qualifies for RebelliousPrincess. She's also an ActionGirl

Sometimes referred to in the UsefulNotes/SocietyForCreativeAnachronism as "Beverly Hills 902 A.D." Any resemblance to actual 14th-century England is purely coincidental - but what the heck! See pilot episode [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-bk57SzxhE here]]

* PropRecycling: We can see plenty of props from Kevin Costner's Robin Hood movie.
* ScrewedByTheNetwork: ''Covington Cross'' had the misfortune of airing during the 1992 presidential campaign, and ABC allowed Ross Perot to buy up air time for his campaign, which just happened to fall into the series's timeslot. Despite strong initial ratings, the show was unable to recover from this disruption of its schedule, and combined with its high production costs to kill it seven episodes into its run.

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Sometimes referred to in the SocietyForCreativeAnachronism as "Beverly Hills 902 A.D." Any resemblance to actual 14th-century England is purely coincidental - but what the heck! See pilot episode [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-bk57SzxhE here]]

* TheCasanova: Cedric is ''really'' not suited to the Church.