Clive Exton (1930 - 2007) wrote all of the scripts for this series (23 episodes, 1990 - 1993). He also wrote 20 scripts for Agatha Christie's Poirot (1989 - 2000) and 10 scripts for Rosemary and Thyme (22 episodes, 2003 - 2007). He had a prolific output both in the UK and during ten years in Hollywood and wrote or contributed to scripts for many movies including 10 Rillington Place, The Awakening and The Bounty. He dramatized works by Jean Cocteau, Daphne du Maurier, Graham Greene, Ruth Rendell and H G Wells among others.
Exton was one of the best writers working from the late 70's through the 90's. My personal feeling is that in the scenario writing too much quality has been lost since around 2000 when Exton, Brian Eastman and John Hawkesworth passed on. It's a real loss.
I think you mean 'forgo' Sir! 'Forego' would convey, albeit imperfectly, the similitude of consuming the first two courses ahead of the meat. Whereas your terminology is intended to denote their avoidance altogether.
Really? I much preferred both the previous Madeline and the previous Gussie. They were a bit hopeless but relatively nuanced and still quite sympathetic characters.These two, on the other hand, are are just a pair of cartoon characters, too irritating for words with her vacant looks and ridiculous squeaking, and his breathless whining. I suppose it's down to personal taste, isn't it?
"I'm undoubted that your cool head and thespian powers will see you through the day, sir". Frye to Laurie. The English wheeze meets the French farce! Best episode Jeeves 0304.
+Mysterious Squirrel totally, the opening theme alone is enough to make you feel in a good mood, imagine sitting down to this on a Sunday evening. Bliss.
I also think it's brilliant, and brilliantly re-wrought for different moods. Only trouble is, when I go to bed, I have it going round my head, and when I wake it's still there, without a break. Rather makes me wonder what it's done to the old noggin in the interim... Well, not to worry.
This actress is absolute spiffing brilliant playing Madeline Basset. Wide-eyed, soppy, with a high pitched lisp. Absolutely embodies what Wodehouse described
The storyline is always so well thought out. Every episode, every time, season after season. I especially love the way Fry and Laurie play off each other like a well tuned instrument. The only other team I can recall that brought me so much enjoyment was Lewis and Martin. It's magical. 😀😂🤣😃😄😉
Regarding Jeeves and Wooster-the brilliant writing belongs to the author of the books-P.G. Wodehouse. Most of the dialog is straight out of the books without much editing. The brilliance of this series is being able to bring it believably into life with excellent acting, direction and real scenery and sets.
"You can't go around London asking people to pretend to be Gussie Fink-Nottle. Well you CAN I suppose - but what a hell of a life".......no-one but NO-ONE could have written that but the genius P G Wodehouse!!!
Reminded me of the bit in "Shaft" (the novel, I've never seen the movie) where Shaft wants to find out where the Mafia's headquarters is so he goes around town shouting "where the heck is the Mafia's headquarters!?" in every Italian bar and restaurant - and it works.
This is entertainment! No bad language True Art of Acting This is the style net works should strive for.Clearly to cleaver for this day and age Hollywood have no talent left.
Plum added so much joy to all our lives. All we can do to thank him is to pass it on so he is appreciatively and lovingly remembered. I did this in giving his books to my son❤️
The little bit of slapstick with the treacle and paper was sheer genius. Very well acted; worthy of Chaplin or Lloyd. You knew exactly what was to come but revelled in the comedic predictably of the thing. Well done Mr Laurie.
I love how the judges on this show always say everything is the most heinous crime they've ever heard of, right before handing down some trivial fine and letting him go!
I agree, Toni. Wodehouse was brilliant. Having said that, I must say that I think that many of his other, let's say non-Jeeves stories, are not of the Jeeves/Wooster standard.
This is the best Madeline in the series! Exactly as the book describes her. She is a scream!!! The new Gussie with that lisp is actually pretty funny too. And the actor playing Catsmeat is hysterical! This is altogether one of the funniest episodes in the series!
14:00 the director's brilliant use of the close-up and a bit of 'fish-eye lens' brings on fits laughter for me every time; when Bertie tries to tell his joke at the dinner table. Brace yourself! LOL
This isn’t the books. In fact it often ostentatiously separates itself from the books (or a particular book as the case may be) and adds, deletes, or outright changes particular details/events from the books. If I may take the liberty, sir, I must say that I find BOTH to be quite entertaining. Rather than being offended, I am impressed. Rarely are the print and cinematic versions so individually enjoyable when digested side by side. I laugh out loud when I watch this AND when I read (or rather listen to the reading of) the original!
Yes, but I don't like it as well. Not as well done as this one. Sad because I actually like the Blandings books the best of Wodehouse's works. Of course it might make a difference that this series was my introduction to Wodehouse so I saw it before I read the books, whereas I had read all the Blandings stories before I tried to watch the series...
You made an excellent choice for learning proper English. It doesn't get any more proper than Jeeves's speech. Most of the characters speak very good, educated British English, including Bertie, but he talks too fast to follow half the time.
Superb script. Terrific acting, timing, from top to the character actors. Great cinematography. Fantastic wardrobe. Think of the expense 30 years ago. Today?
Fink-Nottle is nothing if not a brilliant change artist in these episodes full of delightful jocularity with the underlying theme of some duration of newts.
"You know, Jeeves, if someone were to come to me and ask if I'd be willing to join a society whose aim will be the suppression of Aunts, or will be willing to see to it that they are kept on a short chain and not permitted to roam at will scattering desolation on all sides, I'd reply, "Wilbraham, if his name was Wilbraham that is, Wilbraham, put me down as a Foundation Member!"
PG Wodehouse, genius writing combining the finest of English humour,( belly laughing silliness) with well developed characters and stunning backdrops, brilliantly brought to life by a skillful production and superb performances, esp the talented Hugh and Stephen, a perfect pairing. The best of British TV, sublime and unsurpassed , greatly enjoyed by young and old alike. A true gem in the panthenon of British drama.
My girlfriend and i read all of the PG Woodhouse books and loved them , so we were both pleasantly surprised to find these videos. They are soo true to the books.
the actress playing Madeline Bassett is perfect.....exactly as the books describe her...."pretty in a droopy soupy way "...lol. love her lisp....brilliant! I like the new gussie too.
Her name is Elizabeth Morton and by the way, she's been married to actor Peter Davison since 2003. He's most famous for "All Creatures Great and Small."
I have watched too many murder mysteries set in this era... so I keep expecting that someone is about to be murdered... I can't help it and it is somewhat distracting.
Andrew Carson That’s a point, makes more sense to be fair. Though Jeeves I think would still clear Bertie’s name. (Talking of Jeeves I need to get rid of Santa Jeeves profile photo 😂)
Currently on my eleventh book out of the 15. Superb. I remember this series from years ago and visualise fry and Laurier in the roles whilst reading. Credit to the performances.
yes I thought it a bit of a shame they changed the basset girl again. I really liked the first casting of her but they change her around every time it seems. This incarnation seems so cartoony.
Lynx South I'm not sure what point you're trying to make here. I feel it's an attempted put down but I can't quite see how you think it works, Maybe you'd care to explain? Also the 'decade' bit is a tad confusing. Do you mean a decade after Barrymore *said* it? if so, then no, it would be a lot longer than a decade, as he died in 1942.
No, no attempted put-down at all. I found it interesting that you used that quotation here in Jeeves and Wooster comments and then Stephen Fry used it many years later (and I'd just rewatched that QI episode a few days before). A time-lapsed coincidence. I simply liked it occurring in two Stephen Fry contexts. My apologies for not being clearer.
There are some stagecraft things here which are worth pointing-out. The catch of the ball was probably not done on the first take. Similarly, the catch of the macadamia or peanut probably not either. I'd say the crew were somewhat challenged here (albeit with intermittent fits of laughter.)
Sure, this Gussie might not be as good as the original. But every actor and actress, including him, has comic genius so that even non-joke lines and simple facial expressions are hilarious :D
I prefered the old 'Fink-Nottle'; he was more, newt-like. This one was running the book on the village sports-day in the first series- I can't remember his name.
Don't know how many of you have read The Mating Season, on which this episode is based..but two characters are sorely missed..the owner of Deverill Hall Esmond Haddock and Catsmeat's sister Corky..Esmond and Corky play the third couple in the novel..
I'm afraid I we aren't eye-to-eye here - I think it's "common sense" that the audience takes pleasure in "reconnecting" again with the action AND the actors. That's - btw - the explanation why "King of Queens" (a US series from the 90ies) flopped dramatically when they decided to replace Leah Remini (one of the lead actors) with someone else. It just doesn't work i. e. minimizes the delight substantially - and the viewers don't forgive that easily . PS: Perhaps you may reconsider your tone - I think it's slightly offending.
I have to agree with alison webster - actors just aren't always available for new series, that's just the way it is in television. Imagine how difficult it must be for the producers. Also, the TV audience when the original was aired probably didn't think as much of it as we might, because of the longer interval between series, whereas we tend to watch them all one after another (well, I do, anyway...), so we notice changes easily. To be honest, I sometimes like the new actors' interpretations of the characters better than the originals. As long as Fry and Laurie are there, I'm not really fussed about the others. The more confusing thing is how they suddenly returned to England from New York without so much as a "by your leave"...
Especially when they reuse actors who played different parts! The gussie character in this episode played a different character in series 1 episode with original gussie! 2 episodes later they switch, also honoria, barmy and Madeline are different actors!
"All the 'little Deverills' eh?" And when Gussie's singing, she stares at the ear trumpet as if there must be something wrong with it! Thanks again for posting these; I dozed through most of them first time round but I'm now seeing episodes I missed back when they were run on TV.
Hey... fun to see Hugh Laurie. So funny to see him clean-shaven, acting "proper", and hearing him with a British accent (which is his native tongue). Talk about the anti-thesis of "House MD".
***** I suppose that's true... but then again, we Mid-Westerners don't have an accent either. We're the only Americans WITHOUT an accent....especially compared to Southern American accents, Boston accents, Bronx accents, etc. It's all a matter of perspective.
EngLady80 I respectfully disagree. Midwesterners do have an accent. As a born and raised New Yorker who has spent a considerable amount of time in the Midwest, there are a few different "twangs" that I've encountered. I grew up with British parents who made their children speak "the Queens English" & have regular elocution classes. God forbid we should have a NY accent...
mydogsioux I said that "tongue-in-cheek". I've been told before that Midwesterners DO have an accent... much like our Scandinavian ancestors. But RARELY does anyone think that their own "native" speech is an "accent". It's just "normal".
Expected Jeeves qua Scotland Yard to say "alduce me to interlow myself".... there's a distinct Pythonesque flavour to this interpretation of Wodehouse, which I as a devotee of both Wodehouse and MPFC had never considered before.
In the 1990-1993 television series 'Jeeves and Wooster', Madeline Bassett was portrayed by Francesca Folan in series 1, by Diana Blackburn in series 2, and by Elizabeth Morton in series 3 and 4. In the 1973-1981 radio drama series 'What Ho! Jeeves', Madeline was voiced by Aimi MacDonald ('Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves'). Now there, in the lovely Aimi MacDonald, is the perfect Madeline Bassett. If she were suddenly to say "Today I danced on the lawn before breakfast, and then I went round the garden saying good morning to the flowers" I wouldn't be the least bit surprised. Her excitable, squeaky voice has been likened to "a choir of frantic mice".
Nice to see that it's not only Americans who put out revolvers and fire on the chase. The overall "moral" this story, and other episodes, is "Don't mess with women ... especially aunts."
