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Jeeves & Wooster – British Television Comedy Series

Jeeves & Wooster Complete Collection Have you ever wondered why the name “Jeeves” has somehow become associated with butlers? Well, I can tell you >>> it comes from the classic British series, “Jeeves”, written by P.G. Wodehouse from the 1910s clear until the 1960s. (P.G. Wodehouse is one of the non-mystery authors I have on my site. Even though they aren’t mysteries, they certainly provide a Cozy-ish atmosphere due to their recurring characters and settings.)

Wodehouse’s character Jeeves so personified the unfailingly polite and devoted manservant that the name soon became almost a general noun associated with all butlers – despite the fact that Jeeves wasn’t even a butler; he was a valet!

Of course, the books are quite excellent, but today there is a more accessible way to become well-acquainted with these classic characters. Originally airing from 1990 to 1993, Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie starred in the roles of the iconic valet and his bumbling master in the BBC series, Jeeves and Wooster. The series had the good sense not to meddle too much with the classic stories originally told by Wodehouse, instead only changing smaller details and allowing the actors to improvise slightly in ways that better fit their personal styles >>> and what style they have!

Both the lead actors really shine in their roles. Hugh Laurie makes an almost effortless overconfident and cheerful Bertie Wooster, who always means well but never quite has the intelligence to pull off his often-zany solutions to what other people would consider minor problems. Stephen Fry’s dry, witty demeanor is a perfect fit for ever-calm-and-collected Jeeves, always ready on hand to solve whatever misadventure his master has accidentally landed in.

The supporting cast is excellent as well, though the episodic nature of the show means that few actors return for more than a handful of appearances. Instead the audience is regaled with a rotating cast of Bertie’s social club friends, most featuring ridiculous nicknames like “Tuffy,” “Oofy,” or “Gussie” – names that really tell you just about all you really need to know about them. Also demanding on his time are Bertie’s Aunts (usually Aunt Agatha, sometimes Aunt Dahlia, just once Aunt Hilda), who are always trying to “fix” the unfortunate Bertie, often by attaching him to a “suitable” woman.

Even today, Jeeves has a clear influence on modern authors: Emily Brightwell’s Mrs. Jeffries Mystery Series shows elements of Wodehouse in the relationship she has developed between the incompetent Inspector Witherspoon and his efficient and unflappable head of household, Mrs. Jeffries. The Jeeves series has withstood the test of time, and even helped form elements of modern literature, and the televised series is a great way to at least get an introduction to the adventures of Jeeves & Wooster.

P.S. To me, Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie are Jeeves & Wooster – they’re perfect in the role, and are the adaptation that will likely forever cement my mental image of the characters. That said, there is another television adaptation of Wodehouse’s original works, the 1960s series The World of Wooster, starring Ian Carmichael as Bertie and Dennis Price as Jeeves. Though I haven’t seen this series, the actors seem like good picks, and I could easily see someone from an earlier generation picking them as “their” Bertie and Jeeves.

Comments

  1. Ian Carmichael makes an interesting Lord Peter in a series (“Lord Peter Investigates?) PBS used to air quite a long time ago. Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie also had a series called “A Bit of Fry and Laurie” that ran for several years. It was a collection of skits and often featured Hugh Laurie playing the piano. Not cozy, but so hilarious.

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  2. Did I read you correctly – there was a television series in the 1940s? I didn’t know that there was television in the 1940s. World War II took up half of the forties! Please advise. I’ve reread that section of your Post several times & can’t discern another meaning.

    Thanks, as usual for an inspiring article. I don’t buy movies, but my fingers are itching to download the books!

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  5. I read all the old Wodehouse books years ago, but had not ever seen the series. Then a couple of years ago I’d been watching House & s/o told me that Hugh Laurie isn’t *at all* like the character he portrays in that show — so I just had to watch the Jeeves/Wooster show to see what he’s like “on his home turf” so to speak.

    Oh I do totally adore this show! I just wish they’d done more episodes! I did watch some of the “A Bit of Fry and Laurie” series but found there was just tooooo much off color humor, which I didn’t find that funny, & not worth slogging through to get to the good stuff.

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      • NO! Abbreviation for “someone” LOLOL!!!!! (SO is Significant Other, SIL is Son in Law or Sister in Law — but s/o with a slash is abbreviation of a single word — someone. Similarly a/o is anyone, s/t is something, etc.) (and my DH [dear husband 😉 ] isn’t up on Hugh Laurie anyway LOL)

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  6. I would love to have a Jeeves, myself! Lol! (Who wouldn’t?)

    The one thing I’ve always liked is how Jeeves always manages – somehow – to get exactly what he wants, at the end of the stories.
    Be it an ugly vase that ‘had’ to be broken, to support whatever story he’s cooked up, or Bertie’s latest (awful) tie given away, Jeeves always seems to get his way in the end. Almost makes you wonder who’s the master and who’s the man, doesn’t it?
    (Hint, it’s not the ‘chinless wonder’, Bertie!)

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  7. Showing my age here but I remember the Ian Carmicheal series. It was on the BBC when I was about 12 or 13. I remember enjoying it but I thought Ian Carmicheal incredibly old, too old to play Bertie Wooster. There was a catchy title song which included the line “that perfect cup of tea you make me…” I still run that through my head as I crawl out of bed in the morning.
    I much prefer the Fry and Laurie version.
    I know they are not the same but I always think of Evelyn Waugh alongside Woodhouse. Both witty, but Waugh had a bitter edge.
    Back in the nineties the Beeb serialised “Scoop” – very funny, worth watching if you ever come accross it.

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    • Anne, I haven’t seen the Ian Carmichael Jeeves and Wooster series, however I believe I have listened to two Jeeves and Wooster audiobooks he narrated. Do you run through the whole song or just that phrase? I just looked up the lyrics and they look delightful.
      (What would I do without you, Jeeves
      I’d get in the most frightful stew, Jeeves
      The day couldn’t start without you to wake me
      Respectfully shake me
      And offer that perfect cup of tea you make me)

      I think the only Evelyn Waugh I have seen dramatized is the 1981 Brideshead Revisited, which I found not to be very witty. I can attest to what you call “a bitter edge.”

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      • Hi Danna, I remember the first 2 lines but its the “perfect cup of tea” that goes through my head as I can’t start the day without at least 2 cups, or even mugs, of tea! Each episode used to start with Jeeves placing a cup at Bertie’s bedside and B. would say “ahh….”
        Brideshead is serious and actually the book is pretty boring. The best adaptation I’ve seen is the film version made a few years ago, better than the 1981 serial.
        Most of Waugh’s work is very witty though. “Scoop” is about a naive “nature notes” contributor to the “Times” or “Telegraph” or similar who by accident finds himself shipped off to North Africa to cover a war.
        I like Evelyn Waugh’s short stories best. Very naughty, very non-PC, but very funny!

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          • The film version is actually sadder but more faithful to the book.
            Brideshead was one of a series of “blockbusters” at the time as I’m sure you remember….there was “Roots” and then later on there was “Jewel in the Crown”…..everybody glued to the telly for each episode…

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  8. Lapse of memory – “Scoop” was made by London Weekend Television. Micheal Malony played William Boot, the hapless reporter.

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  9. Maybe someone here can help… I’m being driven crazy because I’m unable to recall the name of a British Detective series. The lead was a suave sophisticated man, drove a Jag (?) and was unexpectedly killed in the last episode by stepping between two women (one a Serb war criminal and the other a Balkan victim aiming to kill her).

    Does this ring any bells?

    Thanks.

    Reply

    • [Endeavor] Morse drove a reddish vintage Jaguar, but my (faulty) memory remembers the shoot-out you mention, but doesn’t relate it to his death. Why not Google it?

      Reply

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