''The World of Wodehouse'' is a comedy television series, based on the

Blandings Castle Blandings Castle is a recurring fictional location in the stories of British comic writer P. G. Wodehouse, being the seat of Lord Emsworth (Clarence Threepwood, 9th Earl of Emsworth), home to many of his family and the setting for numerous ta ...

and Ukridge stories written by

P. G. Wodehouse Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, ( ; 15 October 188114 February 1975) was an English author and one of the most widely read humorists of the 20th century. His creations include the feather-brained Bertie Wooster and his sagacious valet, Jeeve ...

. The series, which followed the television series ''

The World of Wooster ''The World of Wooster'' is a comedy television series, based on the Jeeves stories by author P. G. Wodehouse. The television series starred Ian Carmichael as English gentleman Bertie Wooster and Dennis Price as Bertie's valet Jeeves. The s ...

'', was shown on

BBC Television BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1927. It produced television programmes from its own studios from 193 ...

. It consisted of two series, the 1967 ''Blandings Castle'' series (six episodes) and the 1968 ''Ukridge'' series (seven episodes). Apart from one or more extracts from one episode of ''Blandings Castle'' ("Lord Emsworth and the Girl Friend"), all episodes of both ''Blandings Castle'' and ''Ukridge'' are

lost Lost may refer to getting lost, or to: Geography *Lost, Aberdeenshire, a hamlet in Scotland * Lake Okeechobee Scenic Trail, or LOST, a hiking and cycling trail in Florida, US History *Abbreviation of lost work, any work which is known to have bee ...

Cast members

''Blandings Castle''

* Ralph Richardson as

Lord Emsworth Clarence Threepwood, 9th Earl Emsworth, commonly known as Lord Emsworth, is a recurring fictional character in the Blandings Castle series of stories by British comic writer P. G. Wodehouse. He is the amiable and somewhat absent-minded head of t ...

(6 episodes) *

Meriel Forbes Meriel Forbes, Lady Richardson (13 September 1913 – 7 April 2000) was an English actress. She was a granddaughter of Norman Forbes-Robertson and great-niece of Sir Johnston Forbes-Robertson. After making her stage debut with her father's tour ...

Lady Constance Keeble Lady Constance Keeble (née Threepwood, later Schoonmaker) is a recurring fictional character in the ''Blandings Castle'' stories by British comic writer P. G. Wodehouse, being Lord Emsworth's most formidable sister, a strikingly handsome woman, wi ...

(6 episodes) *

Stanley Holloway Stanley Augustus Holloway (1 October 1890 – 30 January 1982) was an English actor, comedian, singer and monologist. He was famous for his comic and character roles on stage and screen, especially that of Alfred P. Doolittle in ''My F ...

Beach A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological sources, such as mollusc shel ...

(6 episodes) * Jack Radcliffe as McAllister (6 episodes) *

Derek Nimmo Derek Robert Nimmo (19 September 193024 February 1999) was an English character actor, producer and author. He is best remembered for his comedic upper class "silly ass" and clerical roles including Revd Mervyn Noote in the BBC1 sitcom ''Al ...

Freddie Threepwood The Honourable Frederick Threepwood is a fictional character in the Blandings stories by P. G. Wodehouse. A member of the Drones Club affectionately known as "Freddie", he is the second son of Lord Emsworth, and a somewhat simple-minded youth who ...

(3 episodes)

''Ukridge''

Anton Rodgers Anthony "Anton" Rodgers (10 January 1933 – 1 December 2007) was an English actor and occasional director. He performed on stage, in film, in television dramas and sitcoms. He starred in several sitcoms, including ''Fresh Fields'' (ITV, ...

as Stanley Ukridge (7 episodes) *

Julian Holloway Julian Holloway (born 24 June 1944) is a British actor. He is the son of comedy actor and singer Stanley Holloway and former chorus dancer and actress Violet Lane. He is the father of author and former model Sophie Dahl. Early life Holloway was ...

as Corky (7 episodes) * Marian Spencer as Aunt Julia (4 episodes) * Kenneth Thornett as Bowles (3 episodes) *

Noel Davis Noel Davis (born Edgar Davis; 1 March 1927 – 24 November 2002) was a British film and television actor; and latterly, a film and television casting director. Partial filmography * '' Darling'' (1965) - Shop Assistant (uncredited) * ''Fahren ...

as Tupper (3 episodes) *

Hugh Latimer Hugh Latimer ( – 16 October 1555) was a Fellow of Clare College, Cambridge, and Bishop of Worcester during the Reformation, and later Church of England chaplain to King Edward VI. In 1555 under the Catholic Queen Mary I he was burned at the ...

Barter In trade, barter (derived from ''baretor'') is a system of exchange in which participants in a transaction directly exchange goods or services for other goods or services without using a medium of exchange, such as money. Economists disti ...

(3 episodes)

Background and production

''The World of Wodehouse'' was created as a result of the success of the BBC television series ''

'', which aired from May 1965 to November 1967. The six episodes of the ''Blandings Castle'' series, which aired in early 1967, were screened before the third series of ''The World of Wooster'', which was broadcast later that year. Michael Mills and

Frank Muir Frank Herbert Muir (5 February 1920 – 2 January 1998) was an English comedy writer, radio and television personality, and raconteur. His writing and performing partnership with Denis Norden endured for most of their careers. Together they wro ...

produced the episodes based on

stories, which were adapted by John Chapman.

Joan Kemp-Welch Joan Kemp-Welch (23 September 19065 July 1999) was a British stage and film actress, who later went on to become a television director. After making her stage debut in 1926 at the Q Theatre, Kemp-Welch made her film debut in 1933 and appeared in ...

produced the episodes based on Wodehouse's Ukridge stories, which were adapted by

Richard Waring Richard Waring (born Richard Waring Stephens; 27 May 1911 – 18 January 1993) was an English-American actor. He is perhaps best remembered for his role in the film ''Mr. Skeffington'' (1944). Biography Richard Waring was born Richard Ste ...

. The episodes for both series were each approximately 30 minutes long. Exterior shots of Blandings Castle were filmed at

Penshurst Place Penshurst Place is a historic building near Penhurst, Kent, south east of London, England. It is the ancestral home of the Sidney family, and was the birthplace of the great Elizabethan poet, courtier and soldier, Sir Philip Sidney. The ori ...

. The music for the ''Blandings Castle'' series was composed by

Ron Grainer Ronald Erle Grainer (11 August 1922 – 21 February 1981) was an Australian composer who worked for most of his professional career in the United Kingdom. He is mostly remembered for his television and film score music, especially the theme mus ...

Arthur Wilkinson Arthur Wilkinson (3 September 1919 – 1968) was a British orchestral composer and arranger. He began composing while serving in the Royal Air Force during World War II, and made many contributions to film, stage shows and television. Notab ...

composed the music for the ''Ukridge'' series.

Penguin Books Penguin Books is a British publishing, publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers The Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the following year.Jeeves Jeeves (born Reginald Jeeves, nicknamed Reggie) is a fictional character in a series of comedic short stories and novels by English author P. G. Wodehouse. Jeeves is the highly competent valet of a wealthy and idle young Londoner named Berti ...

books with covers featuring full-colour promotional images from ''The World of Wooster'', published tie-in Blandings books with covers featuring promotional images from ''The World of Wodehouse'' in December 1966.

, who played Freddie Threepwood in the ''Blandings Castle'' series, also played

Bingo Little Richard P. "Bingo" Little is a recurring fictional character in the comedic Jeeves and Drones Club stories of English writer P. G. Wodehouse, being a friend of Jeeves's master Bertie Wooster and a member of the Drones Club. In his early appear ...

in several episodes of ''The World of Wooster''. Both

and

, who played Ukridge and Corky respectively in the ''Ukridge'' series, had previously played other roles in the third series of ''The World of Wooster''. Rodgers also portrayed

Rupert Baxter Rupert J. Baxter is a fictional character in the Blandings stories by P. G. Wodehouse. Often called the Efficient Baxter, he is Lord Emsworth's secretary, and an expert on many things, including Egyptian scarabs. He invariably wears his rimless s ...

in the third episode of the ''Blandings Castle'' series, "Lord Emsworth and the Crime Wave at Blandings".

Episodes

Series overview

''Blandings Castle'' (1967)

''Ukridge'' (1968)

References

;Notes ;Sources * {{DEFAULTSORT:World of Wodehouse, The 1967 British television series debuts 1968 British television series endings Television shows based on works by P. G. Wodehouse BBC television comedy Lost BBC episodes 1960s British comedy television series