Jeeves and Wooster: Jeeves Takes Charge

Only Jeeves can get Bertie out of this predicament.

Jeeves and Wooster: Jeeves Takes Charge
ITV
Historical Comedy
22 April 1990
DVD
B-

Clive Exton adapted this and I think all the other episodes of the four series of the programme, basing this episode on two of the early short stories.  It's a reasonably faithful adaptation, although understandably a lot of time is spent introducing characters, including ones who have little to do with the present tale.  This, combined by the slow-paced direction, by Robert Young (not that Robert Young) as it would be for the other episodes of Series One, gives a feeling that it takes awhile to get going.  The liveliest moments are due to the music, that is, the jaunty theme tune (with perfect animation), the incidental music, and of course the duet for "Minnie the Moocher."  As with the books, it's difficult to say when exactly this is set, other than "between the World Wars," although there is a reference to a wine from '27.

The first scene is set in a courtroom, as a hungover and incoherent Bertram Wilberforce Wooster (the marvelous Hugh Laurie) is sentenced five pounds by the judge, Sir Watkyn Bassett (John Woodnutt, who would be featured more prominently in his five later appearances), for stealing a policeman's helmet.  He returns home and just wants to collapse in bed but is woken by the arrival of the new valet that the agency sent over.  This valet is Jeeves (the understated but splendid Stephen Fry) and he's about to change Bertie's life, for the better.  I'll note here that at 30 and 32 respectively, Laurie is a bit too old for the 25-ish Wooster and Fry is definitely too young for the middle-aged Jeeves, but they're so perfectly cast, and of course have long-standing chemistry, that the viewer can soon overlook that.

Bertie's stern Aunt Agatha (Mary Wimbush) thinks he's wasting his life and she wants him to marry Honoria Glossop (Liz Kettle) as a steadying influence.  So he reluctantly goes down to the estate of her parents, Sir Roderick and Lady Glossop (Roger Brierly and Jane Downs), where he meets his old pal Bingo Little (Michael Siberry).  Complications, including cats stolen by his cousins Claude and Eustace, ensue.

Adam Blackwood makes his first of four appearances as Barmy Fothingay (pronounced "Fungy") Phipps, Richard Dixon his first of eight as Oofy Prosser, John Pirkis his first of three as Freddie Chalk-Marshall, Michael Ripper his first of six as the Drones Porter, and Richard Stirling his first of two as Boko Fittleworth.  Yet it is Robert Daws who'll be the main familiar face throughout the series, getting more to do in his seven later appearances as Tuppy Glossop (yes, related to these Glossops), while those around him are recast and/or underused.