Jeeves and Wooster

Jeeves and Wooster
Series title card.
Format	Comedy
Starring	Hugh Laurie Stephen Fry
Country of origin	United Kingdom
No. of episodes	23 Main article: List of Jeeves and Wooster episodes
Production
Running time	55 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel	ITV
Original run	22 April 1990 – 20 June 1993

Jeeves and Wooster is a British comedy television series adapted by Clive Exton from P.G. Wodehouse's Jeeves stories. The series was produced by Picture Partnership Productions for Granada Television and screened on the ITV network from 1990 to 1993. It starred Hugh Laurie as Bertie Wooster, a jovial but empty-headed young gentleman, and Stephen Fry as Jeeves, his improbably well-informed and talented valet. The stories are set in Britain and the United States in the pre-World-War-II 20th century (there are aspects of the Edwardian era, 1920s, and 1930s).

Wooster is a well-to-do bachelor, a minor aristocrat and member of the idle rich. He and his friends, who are mainly members of The Drones Club, are aided in all manner of societal adventures by the indispensable "gentleman's personal gentleman," Jeeves. Wodehouse drew the themes of his plots, which concern the entangled love lives of the major characters, from classical New Comedy.

Four series were produced, with 23 episodes in total. The programmes were produced by Brian Eastman and are all available on DVD.

One aspect of the series is that many of the supporting roles—including significant characters such as Aunt Agatha, Madeline Bassett, and Gussie Fink-Nottle—were played by more than one actor. One prominent character, Aunt Dahlia, was played by a different actress in each of the four series. Conversely, the actress Francesca Folan played two very different characters: Madeline Bassett in series one and Lady Florence Craye in series four.

The theme (called "Jeeves and Wooster") is an original piece of music in the jazz/swing style written by composer Anne Dudley for the programme.^[1]

Characters

Stephen Fry as Jeeves & Hugh Laurie as Bertie Wooster.

Episodes

Locations

• Interior shots of Bobbie Wickham's house were filmed at Home House - a gentleman's club in London.
• Totleigh Towers was filmed at Highclere Castle, Berks.
• Exterior shots of Brinkley Court were filmed at Barnsley Park, Glos. in series 1 and Hall Barn, Bucks. in series 4.
• All interior shots of Brinkley Court were filmed at Wrotham Park, Herts.
• Interior and exterior shots of Chuffnell Hall, in series 2, were also filmed at Wrotham Park.
• Shots of Chuffnell Regis, Devon, were filmed in Fowey, Cornwall.
• Ditteridge Hall ("Jeeves Takes Charge") was filmed at Englefield House, Berks.
• Twing Hall ("The Purity of the Turf") was filmed at Stanway House, Glos.
• The "Victoria Hotel" and the "Hotel Riviera" in Westcombe-on-Sea ("Pearls Mean Tears") were filmed in Sidmouth, Devon.
• Chuffy's Aunt's House ("Kidnapped!") was filmed at Clandon Park, Surrey. Ablafor's house was also used for some exterior shots of Guamie.
• Deverill Hall ("Right Ho, Jeeves") was filmed at Joyce Grove, Oxon.
• Fothergill Hall ("Comrade Bingo") was filmed at Dorney Court, Bucks.
• Lord Worplesdon's New York residence ("The Once and Future Ex") was filmed at Gaddesden Place, Herts.
• Exterior shots of Stuyvesant Towers, Wooster's residence in New York City in series 3 and 4, were filmed at Senate House in Bloomsbury, the central library and administration building for the University of London.

Trivia

• Bertie Wooster's car is an 1929 Aston-Martin 1.5 litre International.
• An element of the television show not present in the books is Wooster's - Laurie's skill as a pianist. Several scenes in the show feature Laurie playing a humorous song and, occasionally, Fry joining in for a duet. This integration of period compositions may be seen as an ode to Wodehouse's musical career.
• Vivian Pickles also plays Aunt Dahlia in the BBC Radio 4 series What-ho, Jeeves!
• The theme music by Anne Dudley was also used in the movie Mickey Blue Eyes.

External links

• Jeeves and Wooster at the Internet Movie Database
• Hat-Sharpening: An episode guide to the series, including information about which episodes were adapted from which Wodehouse stories
• The Russian Wodehouse Society: Episode guides, screenshots and quotes from the four series
• British Film Institute Screen Online

Notes

1. ^ See annedudley.co.uk.