History Main / JeevesandWooster

* ''Theatre/ByJeeves'', the 1996 Alan Ayckbourn/Andrew Lloyd Weber musical (released on UK DVD in 2001) based on their failed 1975 musical ''Jeeves''

* ''Series/JeevesAndWooster'', the TV adaptation starring StephenFry and HughLaurie

* The Literature/JeevesAndWooster stories and novels by PGWodehouse

->'''Wooster''': ''Why is it, do you think, Jeeves, that the thought of the "little thing" my Aunt Dahlia wants me to do for her fills me with a nameless foreboding?''
->'''Jeeves''': ''[[GenreSavvy Experience, sir?]]''

A TV Series starring (in the most recent incarnation) StephenFry and HughLaurie and based on the short stories and novels of PGWodehouse, ''Jeeves and Wooster'' is set [[ChristieTime sometime between the wars]] and focuses on Bertie Wooster, an affable but not overly bright young chap with an unfortunate tendency to get accidentally engaged to every woman he so much as looks at, while his valet (''not'' butler), Jeeves, is the brains of the operation, suggesting the various schemes that help Bertie and his friends get out of trouble. Well sometimes. Sometimes, he gives them what they need not what they want.

The plots tend to be quite similar - a friend of Bertie's is in love but they lack the courage to propose/their family doesn't approve of the match/they've forgotten the girl's name and address, and they require Bertie to propose in their stead/pretend to be engaged to their fiancee/pose as a burglar to make them look heroic when they foil him; this will go wrong and Bertie will get unwillingly engaged to someone, or be caught stealing something, or both. At the last minute everything will turn out all right and Jeeves will explain how he solved everything. Grateful at being saved from the altar or prison (or both) once again, Bertie will give permission for Jeeves to book the cruise he's been angling for, or destroy the hat of Bertie's he dislikes; inevitably, Jeeves has already done so.

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!!Tropes include:

* AbhorrentAdmirer: Honoria Glossop, Florence Craye, and Madeleine Bassett. Rare examples where the primary problems are with their personalities, and not their appearances.
* AccidentalDanceCraze: On one occasion, when Gussie and Bertie are in the Drones Club discussing Gussie's difficulty confessing his love to Madeline Bassett, Gussie complains to Bertie that male newts have it much easier, as they profess attraction by performing a simple body-shaking movement -- which he demonstrates, inspiring two nearby Drones to invent a new dance which nearly everyone in the room is doing by the time Gussie and Bertie leave.
* [[AccidentalMarriage Accidental Engagement]]: Throughout the series, often to the same women (Honoria, Madeline, and Florence) two or three times, though in the final episode Bertie outdoes himself when he ends up accidentally engaged to two women simultaneously.
* AesopAmnesia: In several of the stories Bertie tries to fix things on his own, invariably making them ten times worse, and realising that the only one who can get him out of this mess is Jeeves. He often seems to have forgotten this lesson by the beginning of the next story.
* AffectionateGestureToTheHead: In the very first episode, Bingo does this to Oliver Glossop (the boy he's tutoring) during dinner, dismissing something the boy just said.
* ApronMatron: Aunt Dahlia
* ArcWords: More like Episode Words: "Eulalie" and "Celia."
* AttractiveBentGender: In the last season, Jeeves has to dress as a female novelist. Bertie finds his feminine appearance rather amusing, but Stilton Cheesewright finds him more attractive than his ex-fiancee.
--> '''Aunt Dahlia:''' What do you mean, Cheesewright's taken a fancy to her? She's Jeeves!
* BigEater: Tuppy Glossop
* BigNo: Sir Watkyn Bassett, upon learning of [[spoiler: Bertie and Madeleine's "engagement"]].
* BlatantLies: Very much Jeeves' modus operandi, although other characters occasionally engage in it as well in an emergency, such as when Bertie locks Lord Chiswick in a room to prevent Ms. Rockmetteller from meeting him:
-->[[hottip:* :''(banging on the door, muffled voice can be heard)''\\
'''Ms. Rockmetteller:''' There's somebody in that room!\\
'''Bertie:''' Er... no, it's an earthquake.\\
'''Ms. Rockmetteller:''' An earthquake?\\
'''Bertie:''' Well, more of a tremor, really. Nothing to worry about.\\
''(more banging and shouting)''\\
'''Ms. Rockmetteller:''' There's somebody in there, I say!\\
'''Bertie:''' Yes, um... it might be Jeeves. Oh dear, it's stuck. ''(turns to door)'' It's alright, Jeeves. The door's stuck again. It keeps jamming, particularly after a tremor.\\
'''Lord Chiswick:''' ''(through door)'' This door is locked!\\
'''Ms. Rockmetteller:''' He said it's locked!\\
'''Bertie:''' Yyyyes, it did sound like that, didn't it? What he actually said was "the whole building rocked".\\
'''Ms. Rockmetteller:''' Rocked?\\
'''Bertie:''' Yes, it's alright, Jeeves. We'll have you out of there in no time.\\
'''Jeeves:''' ''(coming from the kitchen)'' I've brought you some fresh tea, sir.\\
'''Ms. Rockmetteller:''' That's Jeeves!\\
'''Jeeves:''' Yes, madam?\\
'''Ms. Rockmetteller:''' Then who is in that room?\\
'''Jeeves:''' In that room, madam? The painter. The room is being redecorated, I lock him in until he's finished. He's a fine craftsman but unreliable. ''(turns to door)'' Get back you your work! You can have a drink when you finished and not before! ''(turns back to Ms. Rockmetteller)'' Would you like some tea, Ms. Rockmetteller?\\
'''Ms. Rockmetteller:''' No! No... I was going out for a walk... yes... ''(turns to leave)''\\
'''Jeeves:''' Very good, madam. Good afternoon, Ms. Rockmetteller. ''(closes the door after her, unlocks the bedroom door)''\\
'''Lord Chiswick:''' The blasted door was locked!\\
'''Jeeves:''' I'm so sorry, your grace. That was my doing, there were reporters present from the Daily Chronicle and I did not have the time to warn your grace.\\
'''Lord Chiswick:''' Reporters! The devils are on my trail already!]]
** Occasionally subverted for comic effect when Jeeves DOESN'T lie even when he has suggested the subterfuge, although normally for the greater good, but still with hilarious consequences.
*** On this occasion Bertie (at Jeeves' suggestion) attempts to cover for Wilmot's short stay in prison by telling his overbearing mother that he is in Boston
-->[[hottip:* : '''Bertie''' He just upped one morning and said 'Im going to Boston', and then just sort of, went to Boston. Extraordinary thing.\\
'''Lady Malvern''' Then how do you account Mr Wooster, that when I went to Blackwells Island Prison to collect material for my book I saw poor dear Wilmot there dressed in a striped suit and walking the exercise yard with a pack of criminals ?\\
'''Bertie''' Really ?\\
'''Lady Malvern''' So this is how you have been looking after my poor dear boy Mr Wooster ?\\
'''Wilmot Malvern entres with Jeeves looking as if nothing had happened''' \\
'''Wilmot''' Mother! Good Heavens!\\
'''An awkward pause'''\\
'''Wilmot''' I've been to Buffalo.\\
'''Lady Malvern looks disapproving'''\\
'''Wilmot''' No, no, no... Baltimore!\\
'''Lady Malvern continues to look unimpressed'''\\
'''Wilmot''' Jeeves, where have I been, beginning with B ?\\
'''Jeeves''' Prison sir ? ]]
* BlueAndOrangeMorality: Jeeves doesn't give a fig if Bertie gambles, drinks too much, or commits burglary.[[spoiler: In fact he actively helps Bertie blackmail Roderick Spode for the return of Gussie's notebook. Although he refuses to actually tell Bertie what the secret he has discovered is, he happily equips him with the word 'Eulalie' to do with as he sees fit]]. But he will countenance no fiancées, moustaches, monogrammed handkerchiefs, 'American hats' or white dinner jackets. .
* BrawnHilda: Honoria Glossop
* BuffySpeak: Bertie is especially prone to this.
* ButtMonkey: Bertie is this to practically everyone (including his valet!)
* CanNotSpitItOut: All Gussie needs to do to get the woman he loves is to confess his feelings - he already knows she feels the same way. But when it comes to the moment he loses nerve and launches into a 30-minute lecture on the care and habits of newts.
* CaptainObvious: Bertie. "Also, ribbon-like seaweed... [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment which is seawead that sort of looks like... ribbon."]]
* TheCastShowOff: Laurie was fond of playing the piano and singing 1920s and '30s songs.
** All of those old show tunes that seem so aloof nowadays next to modern songs? NOTHING makes you realize how constant the silliness of pop music has been like listening to Bertie Wooster sing them to his valet.
* CharacterDevelopment: Sir Roderick Glossop mellows out over the second season, in sort of a small-scale HeelFaceTurn.
** Otherwise mostly averted.
* CharacterNameAlias: When Bertie and his friends get arrested.
-->'''Judge:''' These are serious charges. But I'm inclined to believe that you, Alfred Trotsky, and you, Frederick Aloisius Lenin, were led astray. You are discharged. But as for the rest of you: Boko Disraeli, Oofy Lloyd George, Barmy, Lord Tennyson, and the rest -- not only have you been guilty of a breach of the peace of considerable magnitude, I also strongly suspect that you have given false names and addresses! You are each fined the sum of five pounds.\\
'''Bertie:''' I say!\\
'''Judge:''' Quiet, Dr. Crippen!
** A (brief) explanation. Dr. Crippen murdered his wife and fled with his secretary to America. He was caught (on board the ship, the first major case invovling wireless/radio). Bertie is thick-witted enough to take a "criminal" name as an alias. A rough modern equivalent would be calling yourself "Ted Bundy".
* ChickMagnet: Bertie manages to attract a surprising large number of women.
** Jeeves too
-->'''Waitress:''' (to Jeeves) Say, you're pretty cute, you know that?\\
'''Jeeves:''' Thank you. So I have been informed.\\
'''Waitress:''' (Giggling) You really slay me.\\
'''Bertie:''' Jeeves, you seem to have a fatal fascination with the women in this country.\\
'''Jeeves:''' Yes, it is a problem, sir.\\
'''Bertie:''' No chance of your switching it off, or something, I suppose?\\
'''Jeeves:''' I regret not, sir. I have to learn to bear it.\\
'''Bertie:''' As do the rest of us, Jeeves.
* ChristieTime
* CompromisingMemoirs: Sir Watkins become the centre of a truly awesome farce.
* CoolOldLady: Aunt Dahlia is this, I don't care what anyone says.
* CutHisHeartOutWithASpoon: [[strike:Roderick Spode]] STILTON CHEESEWRIGHT will break your rotten spine in [[strike: three]] [[strike: four]] [[strike: five]] '''SIX''' places!
* DeadpanSnarker: Jeeves, Jeeves, Jeeves. A departure from the novels, in which he doesn't (quite as much).
* DisguisedInDrag: "The Delayed Arrival"
* EmbarrassingFirstName: Lord Chuffnell's first name is Marmaduke. His friends all know him as "Chuffy".
* EmbarrassingMiddleName:
-->"I didn't know your name was Wilberforce."
-->I explained that except in moments of great emotion one hushed it up.
-->- ''The Mating Season''
* EvilMatriarch: Aunt Agatha, described in the books as "eat[ing] broken glass and wear[ing] barbed wire next to the skin."
* ExtremeDoormat: Bertie will do any favor asked of him, no matter how dangerous or potentially embarrassing it might be.
** And when he does refuse, he's inevitably blackmailed by whoever is asking the favor.
*** [[spoiler: Particularly he often agrees (or has his arm twisted until he agrees) to steal things, even those of fairly high value. Notably he agreed to try and steal a silver cow-creamer, a cheque for 50,000 dollars (although to destroy it not cash it) and a manuscript, but has also been instrumental in making and breaking a large number of engagements and passing himself of as such disparate characters as a jute-salesman and Gussy Fink-Nottle, all at the behest of his various friends, most of whom are less able even than he.]]
* FakeAmerican
* {{Fanservice}}: The earlier episodes like showing [[ShowerScene Bertie in the bathtub a lot.]]
* FascinatingEyebrow: Jeeves, constantly.
* ForgetfulJones: Charles Edward "Biffy" Biffen
* FullNameUltimatum: The very first scene: "I find you guilty as charged, ''Bertram...Wilberforce...Wooster!''"
* {{Geek}}: Gussie Fink-Nottle (his particular geek-dom being newts)
* GenreSavvy: In addition to the quote at the top of this page, an early episode has Bertie's uncle getting engaged to a waitress and Aunt Agatha planning to pay the woman off. Bertie objects, pointing out that he's read lots of novels with this exact scenario, and in all of them the girl reacts with disgust and the objecting party ends up looking foolish. "What trash you do read, Bertie."
* GorgeousPeriodDress: It makes a man wish that dinner jackets (tuxedos to Americans) were still ''de rigueur,'' even when dining alone in your own home.
* GoshDangItToHeck
* GuileHero: Jeeves
* HangingJudge: "In Court After the Boat Race (or, Jeeves' Arrival)" features a magistrate who hands down a five-pound fine for stealing a policeman's helmet as if he were pronouncing a death sentence. Of course, in modern money, that's around £500…
* HeroicBSOD: Jeeves, twice, when Bertie's friend's fashion quirks really are ''that'' bad.
** In one instance (where Bertie's friend is talking about how he wears pyjamas all day until mid evening when he throws on a jumper) Bertie actualy calls out "Don't listen Jeeves!" aware of the profound impact this will have on his manservant.
* HeterosexualLifePartners: The title characters, despite the fact that one of them is played by StephenFry.
* HiddenDepths: Sir Watkyn Basset, incredibly relieved that Bertie intended to marry his ''niece'' not his daughter, rather optimistically (and against all available evidence to the contrary) speculates Bertie might have some. Bertie also is unconvinced.
* HoYay: More obvious in the original books, thanks to Bertie's (and, in one story, Jeeves's) narration, but with Fry and Laurie playing the main characters...
** Bertie describes himself as a 'Nature's bachelor', and seems to get very upset when he has a tiff with Jeeves. He also compares Jeeves to the wives and sweethearts of his friends. Jeeves, on the other hand, goes to great lengths to ''keep his master unmarried''. Of course, he is stated to have a strict policy of never working for married men, it's up to the reader which way to take this.
** Not to mention the fact that in the very first episode, Aunt Agatha describes Bertie's perfect wife - a description that fits Jeeves like the most fashionable of gloves.
* HurricaneOfEuphemisms: "The money! The oof, the dibs, the do-re-mi! The happy cabbage! The oil of palm!" "Yes, I ''do'' speak English."
* HypercompetentSidekick: Jeeves
* IHaveThisFriend: Bertie never seems to learn that when he says things like 'there is a heart here that yearns for you', it's bound to be taken the wrong way. He ''really does'' have this friend.
* [[InformedFlaw Informed Attribute]]: Despite what Bertie's nearest and dearest seem to think, he shows no signs of insanity. [[TooDumbToLive Terminal stupidity]], yes, but not insanity.
** He does have a tendency to put himself into situations that to those unaware of the reasoning (i.e most of the 'adult' characters) seem to be utterly illogical and certainly without explanation might seem a little mad. Having been arrested numerous times, engaged to just about every eligible woman he has met and involved in all manner of hijinks, pranks, attempted burglaries, escapes from the police and general tomfoolery, the weight of evidence might suggest that he is not ''entirely'' normal.
*** Would a sane man push a young boy off a bridge into the river to help a friend win his sisters heart ? Well... ''possibly''...
**** Having observed the egregious little oik in question, I can say confidently that I'd cheerfully push him off a bridge, infatuated friend or no infatuated friend.
* InterClassRomance: One of Bertie's friends wants to marry a waitress. To convince his uncle that it's a good idea, he makes him read romance novels where chambermaids end up marrying their masters.
* ItsBeenDone: "Return to New York." Tuppy's recipe for cockaleekie soup isn't as secret as he thinks it is.
* IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy: Parodied, as Madeline Bassett believes this is why Bertie tries so hard to save her relationship with his friend Gussie. Actually, it's because he's frankly terrified by the thought of marrying [[LoveFreak a woman who believes the stars are God's daisy chain.]]
* TheJeeves: The latest incarnation of the TropeNamer.
* JiveTurkey: In New York, Jeeves warns some visiting small-town Midwesterners against letting it get out that they've been "mousetrapped by a pair of suede-shoed feather merchants."
* TheKlutz: Rev. Harold "Stinker" Pinker
* LargeHam: Roderick Spode (The ''Amateur Dictator''). It helps that he was written as an {{Expy}} of Oswald Mosley, leader of the British Union of Fascists in the 1930s.
** Apparently, he is unable to give a speech without [[ChewingTheScenery gnawing his lectern]] and uses simulated cheering to get help give the impression that he is important.
** He uses a record of a screaming appreciative crowd to give more weight to his speech to a near empty hall.
** When we see him practicing a speech by himself, he simply exclaims the key words of his policies in order, all dripping with dramatic intent (Bicycles! Umbrellas! Brussel sprouts!) making his own cheering audience sounds between each to further increase the effect.
*** All of this underlines the fact that it is all a massive EgoTrip and that despite his best efforts, his movement is tiny. There is something so much funnier about ludicrous policies delivered with such obvious intensity and intent but with almost no-one listening.
* LoveFreak: Madeline Bassett
* MeaningfulName: Jeeves' first name, [[spoiler:Reginald]], means "council power" in Old German; appropriate for someone that everyone goes to for advice. Inverted with Bertie, which (also in Old German) means "bright,"
** Also, Jeeves belongs to a club for valets called [[http://community.livejournal.com/indeedsir/634398.html The Junior Ganymede]]...
*** The club that Bertie and his friends belong to is called the Drones. Rich young men with nothing to do, buzzing around wasting time.
** Another one is that it wouldn't be too surprising if Bertie was named after/alludes to Prince Bertie, the guy the Edwardian Age was named after. While that Bertie was short for Albert (not Bertram), like Bertie Wooster, he had a reputation as a well-meaning but dim hedonist, and had a bad relationship with his GrandDame mother, Queen Victoria, much like Bertie's relationship with his aunts.
* MistakenForCheating: In one episode, Madeline continually walks in on Gussie in compromising but completely innocent positions with other women.
* NameAndName
* NaziNobleman: Roderick Spode
** For once, though, brought off successfully. Wodehouse based Spode on an actual person. In addition, once Spode inherits his familial title (becoming the 7th Earl of Sidcup), he gives up his quirky version of fascism.
* {{Nephewism}}: Bertie. In the original novels, it is established that his parents are dead. No mention is made of them in the show, aside from a remark that his mother "thought [him] intelligent."
* NiceHat: So many...
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Bertie's trademark.
* NoIndoorVoice: Aunt Dahlia.
* NoNameGiven: Jeeves. His first name isn't revealed until the final episode. Something similar apparently happens in the books, where Bertie is shocked to learn that [[OnlyOneName Jeeves has a first name at all!]]
* OneSteveLimit: Averted in Sir Roderick Glossop and Roderick Spode; Cyril "Barmy" Fotheringay-Phipps and Cyril Bassington-Bassington; and Brinkly the valet and Brinkly Court.
* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: Bertie's friend "Chuffy" Chuffnell; the only person who calls him by his real first name is the girl he loves, which initially results in her having to explain to Bertie who this "Marmaduke" person she keeps mentioning is.
* TheOtherDarrin: Over four seasons, we have had two Gussies, three Madelines, two Agathas, two Barmies, four Dahlias?
** Reaches MindScrew levels when you realize that the first Madeline ''comes back'' as the ''second Florence.'' Especially bizarre in the last episode where the two characters ''actually share scenes.''
* OutOfCharacterMoment: Despite Jeeves's remarkably superior language skills, Bertie has to translate ''New York diner slang'' for him in "The Full House."
** In that same episode, Jeeves is seen going about the city and taking notes of New York night life. It is extremely unusual to see him laughing, clapping and wearing a party hat in one such scene.
* OverprotectiveDad: Sir Watkyn Bassett, J. Washburn Stoker, and Sir Roderick Glossop.
* ParentalMarriageVeto: Usually from Sir Watkyn Bassett, trying to prevent his young ward Stephanie from marrying the Rev. Harold "Stinker" Pinker.
* ParentsForADay: "Return to New York," when Bertie's "temporary kidnapping" of a child doesn't go the way he plans.
* PeekaBoo: In one episode there is a nude statue of a child in the background, with a flower ''just'' between its legs.
* PoliticallyCorrectHistory: A definite aversion as the series manages to have scenes in blackface still be humorous, shows the segregation of America during the time period, and perhaps most notably, is accurate to the books in showing Roderick Spode and his Black Shorts dressed as the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Union_of_Fascists British Union of Fascists]]. It is still toned down from the original books, which has Bertie blacking up to blend in with a group of black minstrels and features characters freely using the N-word..
* ProtagonistCentredMorality: Bertie's world-view is very much based on this.
* PuppyDogEyes: Bertie, as this seems to be an inherent trait of Hugh Laurie's characters. Also, Tuppy and Bingo when they're swooning over girls.
* RedOniBlueOni: Bertie is the former, Jeeves the latter.
* RalphWiggum: Cyril 'Barmy' Fotheringay-Phipps
--> "I don't think I've ever been to Kensington."\\
"[...]Yes, you have. Your mother lives in Kensington."\\
"Oh, ''that'' Kensington!"
* SerialRomeo: Richard "Bingo" Little
* ServileSnarker: Jeeves
* SpockSpeak: Jeeves
* SpoiledBrat: Stiffy Byng
* SpotOfTea: Jeeves brings Bertie one every morning. Bertie refers to his morning cuppa as "the life-saving"
* StatusQuoIsGod: An episode may begin with Jeeves giving notice or Bertie getting engaged, but things are always back to normal by the end. This trope is less applicable to the supporting characters, who ''do'' sometimes undergo major life-changes.
* StealthInsult: "Oh, stop playing with the hat, Jeeves. I knew you wouldn't like it." "Oh, not at all, sir!"
* TakeOurWordForIt: Subverted in "Introduction on Broadway" when we finally do get to see Corky's hideously Cubist painting.
* TapOnTheHead: Extensively.
* ThemeAndVariationsSoundtrack: The jazzy opening theme tune gets reworked to set all kinds of different moods.
* ThisIsSparta: "ANATOLE. HAS GIVEN. NOTICE."
* ThrowingOutTheScript: Bertie attempts to help Gussie give a speech by fortifying him with a large quantity of gin. Gussie throws away his notes at the start of the speech and begins saying what he thinks, with things rapidly going downhill from there.
* UnwantedHarem: Mostly true for Bertie in some respects, but Jeeves starts to veer in this direction in the first 10-15 minutes or so of "The Full House."
* UpperClassTwit: Bertie and most of his friends; he actually comes across as more intelligent than most of them, in a faithful reflection of the original Wodehouse stories.
* VitriolicBestBuds: The title characters to some extent. Bertie and his Aunt Dahlia very much so.
* WillTheyOrWontThey: In spades, although in this case the trope name should be immediately followed by "Ever Get Married." Notably, Madeline and Gussie's on-again off-again engagement is the only one that spans the whole series. In the end, [[spoiler: they don't.]]
* XanatosGambit: Jeeves is the master of the Gambit, based on what he calls "the psychology of the individual."
** XanatosSpeedChess: And he can work around almost anything that spoils his stratagems on a moment's notice.
* YouLookFamiliar: The actress who plays Madeline in the first series comes back as Florence in the last series. Also TheOtherDarrin.
** Rupert Steggles, sinister gambler and con man, comes back as the second Gussie Fink-Nottle, kind hearted and timid newt fancier.
* ZanyScheme: Every. Single. Episode.

* [[HeyItsThatGuy Hey It's That Guy]]: American viewers whose only exposure to him has been in ''{{House}}'' are often startled to see that Hugh Laurie was ''ever'' as young and clean-cut (or as British) as he was in ''Wode''house.
** [[{{Aliens}} Pvt. Frost]] pops up every once in a while as a lift operator.

** He does have a tendency to put himself into situations that to those unaware of the reasoning (i.e most of the 'adult' characters) seem to be utterly illogical and certainly without explanation might seem a little mad. Having been arrested numerous times, engaged to just about every eligible woman he has met and involved in all manner of hijinks, pranks, attempted burglaries, escapes from the police and (dare I say it) general tomfoolery, the weight of evidence might suggest that he is not ''entirely'' normal.

* MeaningfulName: Jeeves' first name, [[spoiler:Reginald]], means "council power" in Old German; appropriate for someone that everyone goes to for advice. Inverted with Bertie, which (also in Old German) means "bright," although this troper isn't sure if that's "bright" meaning "smart" or "shiny."

*** And the club that Bertie and his friends belong to is called the Drones. Rich young men with nothing to do, buzzing around wasting time.

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<<|BritishSeries|>>

* PoliticallyCorrectHistory: A definite aversion as the series manages to have scenes in blackface still be humorous, shows the segregation of America during the time period, and perhaps most notably, is accurate to the books in showing Roderick Spode and his Black Shorts dressed as the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Union_of_Fascists British Union of Fascists]]. It is still toned down from the original books, which has Bertie blacking up to blend in with a group of black minstrels and features characters freely using the N-word.
** Actually, Bertie does black up in that episode.

** A (brief) explanation. Dr. Crippen murdered his wife and fled with his secretary to America. He was caught (on board the ship, the first major case invovling wireless/radio). Bertie is thick-witted enough to take a "criminal" name as an alias. A modern equivalent would likely be "Simpson".