''Jeeves and Wooster'' is a British
comedy
Comedy is a genre of dramatic works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium.
Origins
Comedy originated in ancient Greec ...
television series adapted by
Clive Exton from
P. G. Wodehouse's
"Jeeves" stories. 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. Set in the UK and the US in an unspecified period between the late 1920s and the 1930s, the series starred
Hugh Laurie as
Bertie Wooster, an affable young gentleman and member of the idle rich, and
Stephen Fry
Sir Stephen John Fry (born 24 August 1957) is an English actor, broadcaster, comedian, director, narrator and writer. He came to prominence as a member of the comic act Fry and Laurie alongside Hugh Laurie, with the two starring in ''A Bit of ...
as
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 Bertie W ...
, his highly intelligent and competent
valet. Bertie and his friends, who are mainly members of the
Drones Club, are extricated from all manner of societal misadventures by the indispensable Jeeves.
When
Fry and Laurie began the series, they were already a popular comedic
double act for their regular appearances on
Channel 4's ''
Saturday Live'' and their own show ''
A Bit of Fry & Laurie
''A Bit of Fry & Laurie'' is a British sketch comedy television series written by and starring former Cambridge Footlights members Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie, broadcast on both BBC1 and BBC2 between 1989 and 1995. It ran for four series ...
'' (BBC, 1987–95).
In the television documentary ''Fry and Laurie Reunited'' (2010), the actors, reminiscing about their involvement in the series, revealed that they were initially reluctant to play the parts of Jeeves and Wooster, but eventually decided to do so because the series was going to be made with or without them, and they felt no one else would do the parts justice.
The series was a collaboration between
Brian Eastman of
Picture Partnership Productions and
Granada Television.
Theme and opening credits
The theme (called "Jeeves and Wooster") is an original piece of music in the
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...
/
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.
[Awards for ''Jeeves and Wooster'' (1990)](_blank)
from Internet Movie Database
IMDb, historically known as the Internet Movie Database, is an online database of information related to films, television series, podcasts, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and biograp ...
Characters
Many of the programme's 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
Dahlia Travers (née Wooster) is a recurring fictional character in the Jeeves stories of English comic writer P. G. Wodehouse, being best known as Bertie Wooster's bonhomous, red-faced Aunt Dahlia. She is much beloved by her nephew, in contra ...
, was played by a different actress in each of the four series. Francesca Folan played two very different characters: Madeline Bassett in series one and Lady
Florence Craye in series four. The character of
Stiffy Byng was played by
Charlotte Attenborough in series two and by Amanda Harris in series three and then by Attenborough again in series four. Richard Braine, who took over the role of Gussie Fink-Nottle in series three and four, also appeared as the conniving Rupert Steggles in series one. Aside from Fry and Laurie, the only actors to appear as the same character in all four series are
John Woodnutt as Sir Watkyn Bassett and
Robert Daws as Tuppy Glossop.
Episodes
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
In biology, adaptation has three related meanings. Firstly, it is the dynamic evolutionary process of natural selection that fits organisms to their environment, enhancing their evolutionary fitness. Secondly, it is a state reached by the p ...
come surprisingly close to capturing the flavour of the originals" by "retaining many of Wodehouse's most inspired literary similes."
Christopher Lee analyzed the costumes of both Jeeves and Wooster for the ''Gentleman's Gazette'', and concludes that "Wooster represents the
dandy, willing to experiment with style and change. Jeeves is the voice of tradition and conservative style."
Home 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 Entertainment, under licence from
Granada Media Entertainment, released the complete 23-episode collection 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.
References
;Notes
;Sources
*
External links
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The Russian Wodehouse Society��Episode guides, screenshots and quotes from the four series.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jeeves and Wooster
British comedy-drama television shows
1990s British comedy-drama television series
1990 British television series debuts
1993 British television series endings
Television shows based on works by P. G. Wodehouse
ITV comedy
Television series set in the 1920s
Television series set in the 1930s
Television series produced at Pinewood Studios
Television series by ITV Studios
Television shows produced by Granada Television
British English-language television shows
Television duos