Jeeves & Wooster: The Collected Radio Dramas

The source material is wonderful, of course. You know that if you are a connoisseur of Plum's works. And the acting here is the top of the heap. Once might even say it is nonpareil. Hordern coughs or sighs and it conveys the emotion to a T of Jeeves dealing with that young hound Bertie, his dissolute friends, menacing acquaintances and coven of chivvying aunts. Briers has just the right amount of innocent goofiness for the role, curious and willing to learn but almost completely devoid of machinery to do so. And the other minor parts are universally well played.Where then is the fly in the ointment?Two things - both lack of completeness1. When broadcast, each episode would be topped by an intro from Bertie, outlining the current imbroglio and often touching on other matters as one of his characteristically amusing asides. Each of these was a gem of sympathetic adaptation and (although slightly repetitive when listened to in one "binge listen") are missed here for every episode apart from the the first i.e., up to 7 helpings of sauce.2. The Missing series -> Thank You, Jeeves. Now I can certainly speculate as to the reason that it is missing. It is, after all, the book that uses the N-word (and its derivatives) to refer to the personnel of a musical troupe that are staging a banjolele concert, and so are utilized as a plot device to extricate Bertie from the yacht of Mr J. Chichester Clam in blackface. We have now reached the point where such things are verboten even with fair warning, I suppose. Context is all, but I do not suppose that the PC police are any more amused than Police Sergeant Voules was to unearth Bertie for the third time at Wee Nooke to find it lurking in the archives even though it is from a novel written long ago about a world that scarcely had even existed and does not use the offending terms in a derogatory or belittling way. I guess we have to wait until these words can be seen as un-provoking as calling Othello a moor - and thus the quality of the art becomes the only criteria. I just hope that, in a fit of zeal, some functionary does not turn all Gauleiter and destroy the tapes and so they will be re-discovered in a less sensitized age.Overall though, while these omissions lose it a "star", it is a huge enough portion slice of aural steak and kidney pie to satisfy even Glossop, Tuppy.

These 17 CDs cover several separate BBC radio dramatisations of Wodehouse's short stories centred on Bertie Wooster and his all-knowing butler Jeeves. Five stars for the great Richard Briers and Michael Hordern as Wooster and Jeeves, respectively, and ultimately for Wodehouse himself for this inspired silliness. Worth every penny of the price.

For me the best Jeeves/Wooster dramatisations of all. Horden/Briers excellent...almost as good as Jonathon Cecils' unabridged readings of the original books. The unique Wodehouse humour is in the words & style. No visual versions however well acted do him justice..

I listened to these when they were first broadcast, and the cassette tapes were always favourites for my small daughters on long car journeys. Now I have the complete set on pristine CD's. Richard Briers was the perfect voice of Bertie, with his machine-gun fast delivery, his inspired goofiness and good nature. Standout for this listener was Vivian Pickles as Aunt Dahlia!

Different stories/episodes not identified on cd's or case.Cheap spindle case for all cd'sVolume levels change from cd to cdProductions fine, but presentation of them terrible.Would not have bought if I had seen physical product

Bought as a Christmas present for my wife. She absolutely loves this cds and plays them all the time on her way to work. Heartily recommended

Love it - Great performances from Messrs Richard Briars and Horden - Also a fan of the books so i'm probably a bit biased but all the same they couldn't have picked better readers for this brilliant unique series of radio dramatisations.

This is best possible listening when driving long distances at dark autumn evenings. It keeps you amused and because there is always something happening - at least with words, it's possible to listen to the stories over and over again.Lovely acting, too, from the main characters to the smallest of roles.