Jeeves & Wooster: The Collected Radio Dramas

by P.G. Wodehouse, Michael Hordern (Narrator), Richard Briers (Narrator)

Michael Hordern and Richard Briers star as Jeeves and Wooster in six BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisations. It also features Maurice Denham, Paul Eddington, David Jason, John Le Mesurier, Miriam Margolyes, Jonathan Cecil, Liza Goddard and Patrick Cargill. The Inimitable Jeeves: Aunt Agatha is forcing Bertie to get engaged to the formidable Honoria Glossop. Can Jeeves save the day? The Code of the Woosters: Who would think that a silver cow-creamer could cause so much trouble? Uncle Tom wants it, and Aunt Dahlia is blackmailing Bertie to steal it. Right Ho, Jeeves: Mayhem has broken out at Brinkley Court, but there are more brains in the Wooster household than just Jeeves...Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves: Poor Bertie! Madeline Bassett and Gussie Fink-Nottle's engagement is on the rocks, and he's next in line for the fair maiden's hand. Jeeves and the Feudal Spirit: When Jeeves returns from his annual shrimping holiday in Bognor Regis, he's in for a few surprises. Jeeves: Joy in the Morning: For Bertie, Steeple Bumphleigh is a village to be avoided as it contains the appalling Aunt Agatha. Still, there are good deeds to be done.

Genres: Audiobook, Humor, Fiction, Classics, Comedy

1 pages, Audio CD

First published January 1, 1963

About the author

Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, KBE, was a comic writer who enjoyed enormous popular success during a career of more than seventy years and continues to be widely read over 40 years after his death. Despite the political and social upheavals that occurred during his life, much of which was spent in France and the United States, Wodehouse's main canvas remained that of prewar English upper-class society, reflecting his birth, education, and youthful writing career.

An acknowledged master of English prose, Wodehouse has been admired both by contemporaries such as Hilaire Belloc, Evelyn Waugh and Rudyard Kipling and by more recent writers such as Douglas Adams, Salman Rushdie and Terry Pratchett. Sean O'Casey famously called him "English literature's performing flea", a description that Wodehouse used as the title of a collection of his letters to a friend, Bill Townend.

Best known today for the Jeeves and Blandings Castle novels and short stories, Wodehouse was also a talented playwright and lyricist who was part author and writer of fifteen plays and of 250 lyrics for some thirty musical comedies. He worked with Cole Porter on the musical Anything Goes (1934) and frequently collaborated with Jerome Kern and Guy Bolton. He wrote the lyrics for the hit song Bill in Kern's Show Boat (1927), wrote the lyrics for the Gershwin/Romberg musical Rosalie (1928), and collaborated with Rudolf Friml on a musical version of The Three Musketeers (1928).

Reviews

[Basil]

confusingly ordered but enjoyable nonetheless ! the real standouts are richard briers as bertie and vivian pickles (from the show) as aunt dahlia. she has an excellent booming voice that i associate with her and it’s delightful. the casting apart from the three main characters of jeeves, dahlia, and bertie is often not consistent across episodes and that gets a bit disorienting especially when someone who was voicing bingo is then voicing another wooster friend like pinker or gussie or boko. anyway a nice little diversion from things happening in the world right now. recommended especially if you’re already a fan!

[Jolovessnow · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outstanding audiobook! Been listening with family and laughing out loud. Richard Brier is such a great Bertie Wooster - he does an amazing job with his rapid fire delivery. The entire cast composed of many great British actors play their parts with full gusto. The stories on my recording seemed to be chronologically backwards and there is a note on Audible that they were reordered but if you are a Jeeves & Wooster fan, it makes no difference for the enjoyment!

[Shawn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such fun, but should be taken in small doses, since the plot lines tend to be mostly the same, i.e., how Jeeves is to get Bertie out of his continual marital engagement problems.

[Natalie aka Tannat · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Macky · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rating for bbc dramatisation of Honoria Glossop only

[Smitchy · Rating 5 out of 5]

A light and entertaining listen that had me laughing aloud a few times. I love that way Wodehouse plays with language.

[Silas · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had no prior knowledge of these stories before listening to the whole thing. My wife had a Google Play store credit, and this was fairly cheap after that, and she enjoys full cast audio dramas, so we chose this. It was a lot of fun. Listened to in this big batch, some of the stories are a tad formulaic, or at least have frequently recurring themes (a big one being that Wooster finds some item of clothing that Jeeves does not like, which leads to the conflict of Jeeves not using his peerless intellect to solve his problems). That intellect is frequently the thing that solves the conflicts (the majority of which revolve around Wooster trying to avoid marriage while helping other people find a match), though Wooster's pride often leads him to try to solve the problems, with generally poor results. Of course, these were intended to be radio serials, so originally, they would have been listened to with larger space in between, so it would have been less repetitive in that context. It is still quite a worthwhile listen, and had some enjoyable turns of phrase and dry British humor throughout. I have since learned that there are multiple television adaptations, as well, which makes sense, since there are some enjoyable stories here.

[Marc · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great good fun, especially during Covid-19. The thought of London, let alone all these country homes & estates is pure delight.
These collected radio dramatizations are very charming & very well-done with multiple actors, players & all requisite radio drama sound effects. There are moments, to the modern eye & ear, when generational wealth seems quant & thoroughly unfair, but these are not the books or the times to try the mindsets of modern ears. Jeeves & Wooster are sweet & light comedy-- and may they bally well ever entertain.

[Joe Stevens · Rating 5 out of 5]

Other than the order being a bit off and not including the first J&W novel, this is a wonderful and lengthy collection of the classic duo. Wodehouse is my favorite author and Richard Briers is a favorite actor of mine, so this was made to order for my tastes. As with any dramatic version of Wodehouse, you miss some of the descriptions and such, but the first person account makes it possible to bung in more description than in third person books like the Blandings series.

[Ann · Rating 3 out of 5]

This has been a multi-month listening project because Bertie Wooster's efforts to avoid marriage and to placate his Aunt Agatha ("aged relative") wear in more than brief doses. Every month or so I'd listen to a bit more. Wodehouse is funny, although sometimes dated--one cringes at the compliment "that's mighty white of you." But the voice acting is terrific, as are the quips and the English public school nicknames (Darcy Cheesewright is known as Stilton, etc.)

[Jim Conant · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quite often while listening to these radio dramas, a giant smile would break out across my face which was impossible to remove. Extremely funny.

[Mini · Rating 4 out of 5]

The child voices and last story lessened my enjoyment considerably, but all round a comforting and fun listen

[Swati · Rating 5 out of 5]

So good, loved listening to this version

[Kaajal · Rating 3 out of 5]

My mom is a huge PG Wodehouse fan and so was my father. I can’t even remember how many times I have heard them chuckle or laugh out loud while reading the books (yes, that’s the kind of family we were - we spent evenings together, reading).

As I grew older they really tried hard to get me into the books and I wanted to, but for some strange reason, I never could. I have spent the last 40 years trying over and over again.

When I picked up this audio book, I didn’t have any expectations, considering my track record. But since it is a BBC radio 4 production, I figured there was hope.

I am happy to tell you, it worked. I listened to this collection of stories as I went about my day and found myself laughing spontaneously. My husband did give me a few curious looks but he knows me well enough to ignore me.

Between Wooster, his man Jeeves, Aunt Agatha, Aunt Dehlia and his various friends including a name even I knew - Fink-Nottle, (of the newt’s fame); there is madness, mayhem and a lot of confusion with Jeeves eventually coming to the rescue and sorting it all out - until it starts again.

I would be an id*ot to even attempt a ‘review’ of these classics, but I will say this. It’s hilarious, It’s fun and I want to listen to more (mother is very pleased).

[Saturnberry · Rating 5 out of 5]

"I'm dashed! I really am *dashed*!!" :) Extremely fun.