Jeeves and Wooster: Right Ho, Jeeves

Jeeves and Wooster: Right Ho, Jeeves
ITV
19 April 1992
Historical Comedy
DVD
B

Despite the title, this is actually based on a different novel, The Mating Season, which I'm not sure if I've read.  It's better than I remembered, although the recasting of Gussie and Madeline does take some getting used to.  I still prefer Richard Garnett to Richard Braine (who seemed more suited to Rupert Steggles in the first series), but Braine isn't bad.  As for Madeline #3, Elizabeth Morton is a more cartoony version of the character, but I have to admit that, while Francesca Folan and Diana Blackburn have more attractive personalities, the programme really does need someone as saucer-eyed, lisping, and soupy as Morton's Madeline, especially in the "He did it for love" courtroom scene, where nearly everyone is in happy tears and Bertie looks steamrollered.

The Catsmeat & Gertie romance works well as a subplot, and this is in fact one of the better episodes set at a country house, including the denizens of said house.  I'm also getting used to Fairfax's use of over the top humour, as with the billowing smoke when Bertie drives too quickly.  There's still some genuine wit, some of it direct quotes from Wodehouse, so it's not all a cartoon.  Best of all, we get music not only from Bertie but from Gussie!