Jeeves And Wooster: The Complete Series Box Set (8 Discs)

The complete misadventures of young Bertie Wooster and his encounters with indomitable Aunts, hopeless inept friends and innumerable prospective fiances, however bleak the situation may appear, Wooster can always count on the timely interjection of his trusty vallet, Jeeves to get him out of the soup and come up smelling of Roses.

Fry and Laurie were born to play these contrasting roles of a workshy upperclass twit and his unflappable gentlemans gentleman. As far as the program goes, it's 5 stars each and every one.

However, there is a big 'but' comming.

As near perfect as this collection is, I have real issues with the presentation. There are no special features at all, on any of the disks! Surely someone could have sifted through the archives and dredged something up for the fans?!

Also none of the episodes have names, and there is no synopsis on the box of each episode, so unless you're prepared to commit 23 hours of material to memory, it's pure pot luck if you want to watch a specific adventure. It's a case of: "Ah yes, series 3, disk 2 episode 2...what a classic!"

One final grievance I have is each disk has that Anti-piracy film, (the paronisingly annoying 'You wouldn't steal a handbag' one) at the start. You can't skip is, you can't fast forward it, you just have to use it as an excuse to go make a cup of tea.

So all in all, what we have is a priceless work of art wrapped up without any thought in an oily rag. Pity.

A fabulous period piece; invokes the flavour of Woodehouses 20's/30's England brilliantly. Full of comic gems, brilliantly unravelled and adapted from the wonderfully funny books; and the choice of Fry and Laurie in the lead roles was inspired! Nobody can do that gormless goggle-eyed, slack-jawed Bertie Wooster look quite like Hugh Laurie, whillst maintaining that ill-informed air of stupidity, and superiority....and with his cool, dry humour, and refinement, Stephen Fry is the perfect Jeeves!
I can almost believe that Woodehouse knew of Fry and Laurie when writing the books, so good are they in the roles...!

PG Wodehouse's characters are brought vividly to life in this excellent TV show. Hugh Laurie may be playing a character not entirely disimilar to his Lt George in 'Blackadder goes Forth' but boy does he do it well. His interpretation of Bertie Wooster's well meaning but airheaded aristocrat in 1930s London is a joy to behold as he stumbles through one set of unfortunate coincidences to another. The episode in the first series where he tries to make a cup of tea (and almost wrecks his flat in the process) is an absolute hoot. Laurie's pratfalling, facial expressions and reactions to his situations really help to bring Bertie to life.

Stephen Fry's interpretation of Jeeves is also spendidly realised and suits Mr Fry's persona perfectly. His wit, intelligence and casual aloofness are spot on (even though some people have commented that he may have been too young to play Jeeves at the time). However that small matter aside, this series shows just what a good actor he is when the casting is done properly. Whilst Hugh Laurie is now a big TV star in the US it seems odd that Hollywood hasn't also snapped up Stephen Fry (although that may well be his own choice). In some ways he has possibly the tougher task here, to bring life to a character that is very much more restrained than Wooster. However if anyone could do it it would be Mr Fry, and his playful patronising & sarcasm to Bertie, whilst retaining his respect for the more intelligent members of his family, are exceptionally well done here.

This is a decent box set and contains all the episodes. Apparently this series is supposedly digitally remastered although the prints don't look particularly fresh to me, however the picture and sound are generally fine. There are no extras though which is a shame.

I must admit the later episodes are weaker than the earlier ones and i'm glad the producers didn't let the series go on much longer as the series was running out of steam by then. However Fry and Laurie were such perfect foils that their chemistry really helped to keep it so engaging. If you enjoy this then i also recommend their 1980s BBC show, 'A little bit of Fry & Laurie' to see what clever writers they are as well as actors. Also check out the Stephen Fry hosted BBC gameshow 'Q.I' on dvd. Its another example of Stephen Fry's comic genius (as opposed to desperately unfunny comedians like Catherine Tate).