Jeeves and Wooster is a British comedy-drama series adapted by Clive Exton from P. G. Wodehouse's "Jeeves" stories. The series was a collaboration between Brian Eastman of Picture Partnership Productions and Granada Television.
It aired on the ITV network from 22 April 1990 to 20 June 1993, with the last series nominated for a British Academy Television Award for Best Drama Series. It starred Hugh Laurie as Bertie Wooster, a young gentleman with a "distinctive blend of airy nonchalance and refined gormlessness", and Stephen Fry as Jeeves, his improbably intelligent and bold valet. Wooster is a bachelor, a minor aristocrat and member of the idle rich. He and his friends, who are mainly members of The Drones Club, are extricated from all manner of societal misadventures by the indispensable valet ("gentleman's personal gentleman") Jeeves. The stories are set in the United Kingdom and the United States in an unspecified period between the late 1920s and the 1930s.
When Fry and Laurie began the series they were already a popular double act due to regular appearances on Channel 4's Friday Night Live and their own show A Bit of Fry & Laurie (BBC, 1987â€"95).
In the television documentary Fry and Laurie Reunited (2010), upon reminiscing about their involvement in the series, it was revealed that they were initially reluctant to play the part of Jeeves and Wooster but decided to do so in the end because the series was going to be made with or without them and they felt no one else would do the parts justice.
Theme and opening credits
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. Dudley uses variations of the theme as a basis for all of the episodes' scores and was nominated for a British Academy Television Award for her work on the third series.
Characters
Many of the programme's supporting rolesâ€"including significant characters such as Aunt Agatha, Madeline Bassett and Gussie Fink-Nottleâ€"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, Francesca Folan played two very different characters: Madeline Bassett in series one and Lady Florence Craye in series four. Richard Braine also appeared as the conniving Rupert Steggles in series one before taking over the role of Gussie Fink-Nottle in series three and four.
Episodes
Four series were produced, with 23 episodes in total; each series but the first consisted of six episodes, with all being broadcast each spring from 1990â€"93. The five episodes of the first series were directed by Robert Young and first aired in April and May 1990. The second series, directed by Simon Langton, aired in April and May 1991. The third series, directed by Ferdinand Fairfax, aired from March to May 1992. Fairfax also directed the six episodes of the fourth and final series, which initially aired in May and June 1993.
Reception
The third series of Jeeves and Wooster won a British Academy Television Award for Best Design for Eileen Diss. The final series won a British Academy Television Award for Best Graphics for Derek W. Hayes and was nominated for a British Academy Television Award for Best Drama Series; it also earned a British Academy Television Award for Best Original Television Music for Anne Dudley and a British Academy Television Award for Best Costume Design for Dany Everett.
In retrospect, Michael Brooke of BFI Screenonline called screenwriter Clive Exton "the series' real star", saying his "adaptations come surprisingly close to capturing the flavour of the originals" by "retaining many of Wodehouse's most inspired literary similes."
DVD releases
Granada Media released all four series on DVD in Region 2 between 2000 and 2002. On 1 September 2008, ITV Studios Home Entertainment released Jeeves and Wooster: The Complete Collection, an eight-disc box set featuring all 23 episodes of the series.
In Region 1, A&E Home Video released the entire series on DVD in the US and Canada.
In Region 4, Shock Entertainment has released the entire series on DVD in Australia. It was initially released in season sets in 2007/2008, followed by a complete series collection on 4 August 2008.
Locations
- Interior shots of Skeldings Hall (Bobbie Wickham's house) were filmed at Home House, a historic house in London.
- Totleigh Towers was filmed at Highclere Castle, Hampshire.
- Other location shots of "Trouble at Totleigh Towers" were filmed at West End, Waltham St Lawrence, Berkshire.
- Exterior shots of Brinkley Court were filmed at Barnsley Park, Gloucestershire in series 1 and Hall Barn, Buckinghamshire in series 4.
- All interior shots of Brinkley Court were filmed at Wrotham Park, Hertfordshire.
- Interior and exterior shots of Chuffnell Hall, in series 2, were also filmed at Wrotham Park.
- Shots of Chuffnell Regis, Devon were filmed in Clovelly, Devon.
- Scenes from "Bertie Sets Sail" were filmed in Halton House, Buckinghamshire
- Chuffnell Regis Station shots were filmed at Horsted Keynes station â€" Bluebell Railway, Sussex.
- Ditteridge Hall ("Jeeves Takes Charge") was filmed at Englefield House, Berkshire.
- Twing Hall ("The Purity of the Turf") was filmed at Stanway House, Gloucestershire.
- The "Victoria Hotel" and the "Hotel Riviera" in Westcombe-on-Sea ("Pearls Mean Tears") were filmed in Sidmouth, Devon.
- Some of the exterior shots in the gardens of the estate in "Jeeves in the Country" are filmed at Polesden Lacey, Surrey.
- Barmy's Aunt's House ("Kidnapped!") was filmed at Clandon Park, Surrey.
- Deverill Hall ("Right Ho, Jeeves") was filmed at Joyce Grove, Oxfordshire.
- Fothergill Hall ("Comrade Bingo") was filmed at Dorney Court, Buckinghamshire.
- Lord Worplesdon's New York City residence ("The Once and Future Ex") was filmed at Gaddesden Place, Hertfordshire.
- 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.
- Exterior shots of Berkeley Mansions, Wooster's residence in London, were filmed at 2 Mansfield Street, Marylebone.
References
External links
- Jeeves and Wooster on IMDb
- Jeeves and Wooster at the BFI's Screenonline
- Jeeves and Wooster at British Comedy Guide
- The Russian Wodehouse Societyâ€"Episode guides, screenshots and quotes from the four series.