''What Ho! Jeeves'' (sometimes written ''What Ho, Jeeves!'') is a series of
radio drama
Radio drama (or audio drama, audio play, radio play, radio theatre, or audio theatre) is a dramatized, purely acoustic performance. With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the listener imagine ...
s based on some of the
Jeeves
Jeeves (born Reginald Jeeves, nicknamed Reggie) is a fictional character in a series of comedic short stories and novels by English author P. G. Wodehouse. Jeeves is the highly competent valet of a wealthy and idle young Londoner named Bertie W ...
short stories and novels written by
P. G. Wodehouse, starring
Michael Hordern as the titular Jeeves and
Richard Briers
Richard David Briers (14 January 1934 – 17 February 2013) was an English actor whose five-decade career encompassed film, radio, stage and television.
Briers first came to prominence as George Starling in ''Marriage Lines'' (1961–66), but ...
as
Bertie Wooster.
The stories were adapted for radio by
Chris Miller Chris or Christopher Miller may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
*Chris Miller (writer) (born 1942), American comedy author and screenwriter
*Chris Miller (animator) (born 1968), American voice actor and director
* Christopher Miller (filmmaker) ( ...
, except the last two novels featured in the series, which were dramatised by
Richard Usborne
Richard Alexander Usborne (16 May 1910 – 21 March 2006) was a journalist, advertising executive, schoolmaster and author. After the publication of his book ''Wodehouse at Work'' in 1961 he became regarded as the leading authority on the works ...
.
The series was first broadcast from 1973 to 1981 on
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...
.
[Taves, page 128.]
Production
The novels were adapted into several episodes. Each episode is approximately 30 minutes long, except for the episodes adapted from ''Thank You, Jeeves'' and ''The Mating Season'', which are each about 45 minutes long.
[
"The Ordeal of Young Tuppy" and ''Joy in the Morning'' episodes were produced by Simon Brett. The ''Thank You, Jeeves'' and ''The Mating Season'' episodes were produced by Peter Titheridge. The episodes adapted from ''The Inimitable Jeeves'', ''The Code of the Woosters'', ''Jeeves and the Feudal Spirit'', and ''Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves'' were produced by ]David Hatch
Sir David Edwin Hatch, (7 May 1939 – 13 June 2007)
"''Just a Minute''" site wa ...
.
Six of the dramatized books are included in the audio collection ''Jeeves & Wooster: The Collected Radio Dramas'', published by BBC Books in 2013. Some episodes occasionally air on BBC Radio 4 Extra
BBC Radio 4 Extra (formerly BBC Radio 7) is a British digital radio station from the BBC, broadcasting archived repeats of comedy, drama and documentary programmes nationally, 24 hours a day. It is the sister station of BBC Radio 4 and the p ...
.
Main cast
* Bertie Wooster — Richard Briers
Richard David Briers (14 January 1934 – 17 February 2013) was an English actor whose five-decade career encompassed film, radio, stage and television.
Briers first came to prominence as George Starling in ''Marriage Lines'' (1961–66), but ...
* Jeeves
Jeeves (born Reginald Jeeves, nicknamed Reggie) is a fictional character in a series of comedic short stories and novels by English author P. G. Wodehouse. Jeeves is the highly competent valet of a wealthy and idle young Londoner named Bertie W ...
— Michael Hordern
* Bingo Little
Richard P. "Bingo" Little is a recurring fictional character in the comedic Jeeves and Drones Club stories of English writer P. G. Wodehouse, being a friend of Jeeves's master Bertie Wooster and a member of the Drones Club.
In his early appear ...
— Jonathan Cecil
Jonathan Hugh Gascoyne-Cecil (22 February 1939 – 22 September 2011), known as Jonathan Cecil, was an English theatre, film, and television actor.
Early life
Cecil was born in London, England, the son of Lord David Cecil and the grandso ...
* Aunt Agatha
Agatha Gregson, née Wooster, later Lady Worplesdon, is a recurring fictional character in the Jeeves stories of the British comic writer P. G. Wodehouse, being best known as Bertie Wooster's Aunt Agatha. Haughty and overbearing, Aunt Agatha wa ...
— Joan Sanderson
* Honoria Glossop
Honoria Glossop is a recurring fictional character in the Jeeves stories by English comic writer P. G. Wodehouse. Athletic as well as scholarly, she is a formidable young lady and one of the women whom Bertie Wooster becomes reluctantly engaged ...
— Miriam Margolyes
Miriam ( he, מִרְיָם ''Mīryām'', lit. 'Rebellion') is described in the Hebrew Bible as the daughter of Amram and Jochebed, and the older sister of Moses and Aaron. She was a prophetess and first appears in the Book of Exodus.
The Tora ...
* Sir Roderick Glossop
Sir Roderick Glossop is a recurring fictional character in the comic novels and short stories of P. G. Wodehouse. Sometimes referred to as a "nerve specialist" or a "loony doctor", he is a prominent practitioner of psychiatry in Wodehouse's wor ...
— Andrew Cruickshank
Andrew John Maxton Cruickshank (25 December 1907 in Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire29 April 1988 in London) was a Scottish actor, most famous for his portrayal of Dr Cameron in the long-running UK BBC television series ''Dr. Finlay's Casebook'', which ...
(1973), John Graham (1975)
* Aunt Dahlia — Vivian Pickles
* Gussie Fink-Nottle — Rex Garner (1973), David Valla (1975), Jonathan Cecil
Jonathan Hugh Gascoyne-Cecil (22 February 1939 – 22 September 2011), known as Jonathan Cecil, was an English theatre, film, and television actor.
Early life
Cecil was born in London, England, the son of Lord David Cecil and the grandso ...
(1980)
* Madeline Bassett — Bridget Armstrong (1973), Aimi MacDonald
Aimi MacDonald (born 27 February 1942) is a Scottish actress and dancer. She is best known for her role as ''"The Lovely" Aimi MacDonald'' in the television sketch comedy show ''At Last the 1948 Show'' (Rediffusion, 1967).
Background and earl ...
(1980)
* Tuppy Glossop — Ray Cooney
Raymond George Alfred Cooney, OBE (born 30 May 1932) is an English playwright, actor, and director.
His biggest success, '' Run for Your Wife'' (1983), ran for nine years in London's West End and is its longest-running comedy. He has had 17 ...
(1973), Stephen Moore (1976)
* Roderick Spode (later the Earl of Sidcup) — James Villiers (1973), Paul Eddington (1980)
* Lady Florence Craye — Bronwen Williams (1978), Liza Goddard (1979))
* Sir Watkyn Bassett
The following is a list of recurring and notable fictional characters featured in the Jeeves novels and short stories by P. G. Wodehouse.
Anatole
Anatole is a recurring fictional character in the Jeeves stories, being the supremely skilled F ...
– Patrick Cargill
Patrick Cargill (3 June 191823 May 1996) was an English actor remembered for his lead role in the British television sitcom ''Father, Dear Father''.
Career
Cargill was born to middle-class parents living in Bexhill-on-Sea, Sussex. After educati ...
(1973), John Le Mesurier (1980)
* Stephanie "Stiffy" Byng – Miriam Margolyes
Miriam ( he, מִרְיָם ''Mīryām'', lit. 'Rebellion') is described in the Hebrew Bible as the daughter of Amram and Jochebed, and the older sister of Moses and Aaron. She was a prophetess and first appears in the Book of Exodus.
The Tora ...
(1973), Denise Coffey
Denise Dorothy Coffey (12 December 1936 – 24 March 2022) was an English actress, director and playwright.
Early life
Coffey was born in Aldershot in 1936, the only child of Dorothy (''née'' Malcolm), and her husband, Denis Coffey, an Irishm ...
(1980)
Episode list
The series features eight multipart adaptations. A standalone episode adapted from the short story, " The Ordeal of Young Tuppy" (1930), was also aired, and first broadcast on 27 December 1976.
''The Inimitable Jeeves''
Adapted from ''The Inimitable Jeeves
''The Inimitable Jeeves'' by P.G. Wodehouse was the first of the Jeeves novels, although not originally conceived as a single narrative, being assembled from a number of short stories featuring the same characters. The book was first published ...
'' (1923). The cast included Ronald Fraser as Mortimer Little, Maurice Denham as the Rev. Heppenstall, Jonathan Lynn and David Jason as Claude and Eustace, and Edwin Apps as Steggles.
''Right Ho, Jeeves''
Adapted from '' Right Ho, Jeeves'' (1934). The cast included John Graham as Uncle Tom and Anatole, and Jennie Goossens as Angela.
''The Code of the Woosters''
Adapted from '' The Code of the Woosters'' (1938). The cast included Douglas Blackwell
Douglas Blackwell (17 May 1924 – 17 October 2009) was an English actor. Douglas Blackwell was born in Gloucester, Gloucestershire, England, but brought up in Port Talbot, Wales, where he attended the local county grammar school. He narrated ...
as Harold Pinker and Tony McEwan as PC Oates.[
]
''Thank You, Jeeves''
Adapted from ''Thank You, Jeeves
''Thank You, Jeeves'' is a Jeeves comic novel by P.G. Wodehouse, first published in the United Kingdom on 16 March 1934 by Herbert Jenkins, London, and in the United States on 23 April 1934 by Little, Brown and Company, New York.McIlvaine (19 ...
'' (1934). The cast included Clive Francis as Lord Chuffnell, Connie Booth
Connie Booth (born 2 December 1940) is an American-born actress and writer. She has appeared in several British television programmes and films, including her role as Polly Sherman on BBC Two's ''Fawlty Towers'', which she co-wrote with her the ...
as Pauline Stoker, Jo Manning-Wilson as Seabury, Blain Fairman as J. Washburn Stoker, John Dunbar as Sergeant Voules, John Bull as Constable Dobson, and Alaric Cotter as Brinkley.
''The Mating Season''
Adapted from '' The Mating Season'' (1949). The cast included James Villiers as Esmond Haddock, Jo Kendall as Corky Pirbright, Kenneth Fortescue as Catsmeat Pirbright, Miriam Margoyles as Dame Daphne Winkworth and Hilda Gudgeon, John Dunbar as Silversmith, and Antony Higginson as the Rev. Sydney Pirbright and Constable Dobbs.
''Joy in the Morning''
Adapted from '' Joy in the Morning'' (1946). The cast included Peter Woodthorpe as Lord Worplesdon, Jonathan Cecil as Boko Fittleworth, Denise Bryer
Denise Bryer (5 January 1928 – 16 October 2021) was an English actress, known for her voice roles on television and radio.
Career
Best remembered in her UK homeland for her work on the Gerry Anderson series, ''Terrahawks'', where she voiced ...
as Edwin the Boy Scout, Rosalind Adams as Nobby Hopwood, and Michael Kilgarriff
Michael Kilgarriff (born 16 June 1937) is an English actor, author and pianist from Brighton. As an actor, he is well known for his rich voice and height. His film and television roles include ''The Dark Crystal'' (1982) as the General, and t ...
as Stilton Cheesewright.
''Jeeves and the Feudal Spirit''
Adapted from '' Jeeves and the Feudal Spirit'' (1954). The cast included James Villiers as Stilton Cheesewright, Jonathan Cecil
Jonathan Hugh Gascoyne-Cecil (22 February 1939 – 22 September 2011), known as Jonathan Cecil, was an English theatre, film, and television actor.
Early life
Cecil was born in London, England, the son of Lord David Cecil and the grandso ...
as Percy Gorringe, Norman Bird as L. G. Trotter, Diana King as Mrs Trotter, Ann Davies as Daphne Dolores Morehead, Liza Goddard as Lady Florence Crayne and David Tate as Stebbings.
''Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves''
Adapted from '' Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves'' (1963). The cast included Douglas Blackwell as the Rev. Harold Pinker, Ann Davies as Emerald Stoker, Ronald Fraser as Major Plank, Percy Edwards as the dog Bartholomew. and Graham Faulkner
Graham Faulkner (born 26 September 1947 in London, UK) is a former British actor.
His first and best known role was as Francis of Assisi in Franco Zeffirelli's ''Brother Sun, Sister Moon'' (1972). After that, he virtually retired from actin ...
as Constable Oates.
References
;Notes
;Sources
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:What Ho, Jeeves!
Adaptations of works by P. G. Wodehouse
British radio dramas
1973 radio programme debuts