Jeeves and Wooster: Brinkley Manor

Jeeves and Wooster: Brinkley Manor
ITV
13 May 1990
Historical Comedy
DVD
B+

I assume this aired back to back with the previous episode, as they have the same air date.  This part has the "well-kicked plate of sandwiches," the prize-giving, and some other great moments.  I'm also very fond of some of Laurie's line readings and facial expressions, like the "During that sojourn" sequence and his tale of insulting a woman's fiance in Cannes.  It does seem odd that the whole thing about the white mess jacket is dropped, but the "Jeeves disapproves of Bertie's latest fashion choice" thing was not yet as integral part of the television programme as it would become.

Not counting the people I've tagged, John Barrard (Anatole), Adam Blackwood (Barmy Fotheringay Phipps), Richard Dixon (Oofy Prosser), Amanda Elwes (Angela), and Ralph Michael (Tom) return.

J & W in its first series ranges from B- to this B+, averaging out to a low B.

Jeeves and Wooster: The Hunger Strike

Advice to the Lovelorn

Jeeves and Wooster: The Hunger Strike
ITV
13 May 1990
Historical Comedy
DVD
B

This is based on the novel Right Ho, Jeeves (reviewed here http://rereadingeverybookiown.blogspot.com/2012/05/right-ho-jeeves.html) and while it doesn't live up to the source material, it is easily the best J & W adaptation so far.  I recall Part Two as better, having as it does most of the classic moments of the story.  This is funny enough, from its witty script (preserving a lot of the original writing) to such random moments as a newt-inspired dance (shades of "The Chameleon" in Zelig) and Tom's rant about taxes that manages to mention Disraeli and King Harold.

More Advice

Bertie gives a bunch of bad advice, not just romantic-- for Tuppy to win back Bertie's cousin Angela (Amanda Elwes), and for newt-fancier Gussie Fink-Nottle (Richard Garnett) to woo poetic Madeline Bassett (Francesca Folan, who in the final season would return as the very different character Florence Craye)-- but also dietic/financial.  Aunt Dahlia (Brenda Bruce) needs to get a loan from her husband Tom (Ralph Michael), but instead Bertie upsets Tom and everyone else when he indirectly offends the temperamental French chef, Anatole (John Barrard).  We end on a cliffhanger, with Dahlia ordering Jeeves to pack Bertie's bags.

Adam Blackwood, Richard Dixon, and Michael Ripper return as Barmy Fotheringay Phipps, Oofy Prosser, and the Drones Porter respectively.

Jeeves and Wooster: Tuppy and the Terrier

Jeeves and Wooster: Tuppy and the Terrier
ITV
29 April 1990
Historical Comedy
DVD
B-

This story combines three in one, with Bertie following Bobbie Wickham's scheme to get vengeance on Barmy Fotheringay Phipps (Adam Blackwood again); Bertie letting her use his flat to host Broadway producer Mr. Blumenfield and his eight-year-old son (Billy J. Mitchell and Anatol Yusef in their first of two appearances); and Tuppy courting an opera singer.  Aunt Dahlia (Brenda Bruce, my favorite in the role) wants to break up that romance, since Tuppy was courting her daughter Angela.  We'll find out more about Tuppy/Angela later.  Bertie's song this episode, not counting his dreadful "Sonny Boy," is the very catchy "Forty-Seven Ginger-Headed Sailors."  The beginning of the episode, all that golf, is slow, but Mackintosh is a cute little dog.

Michael Ripper returns as the Drones Porter.