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1[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/jeevesandwooster.jpg]]
2->'''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?\
3'''Jeeves:''' Experience, sir?
4
5A TV Series starring Creator/StephenFry and Creator/HughLaurie and based on [[Literature/JeevesAndWooster the short stories and novels of P. G. Wodehouse]], ''Jeeves and Wooster'' is set [[GenteelInterbellumSetting 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 [[AlmightyJanitor 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.
6
7The 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 fiancée/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 [[TheChessmaster has already done so]].
8
9!!Additional Pages:
10* [[Recap/JeevesAndWooster Episode Guide]]
11----
12* AbhorrentAdmirer: Honoria Glossop, Florence Craye, and Madeleine Bassett. Rare examples where the primary problems are with their personalities, and not their appearances. With Honoria Glossop it is more the case of NoGuyWantsAnAmazon, which is a special case of Bertie who is mortally afraid of strong-willed women mainly due to bad experiences with his aunts. On the other hand, Bingo Little has a brief infatuation with Honoria, and she does eventually find a guy who is actually a great fit for her.
13* 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.
14* AccidentalMarriage: Throughout the series, Bertie becomes accidentally engaged 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.
15* AdaptationDyeJob: During the first season, the blonde Madeline Bassett was portrayed by a brunette. Both actresses who were cast as the platinum blonde Florence Craye were also brunettes. Finally, the hair of the actress who portrayed Bobbie Wickham during the first season could hardly be described as a vivid shade of red (or any shade of red unless you squinted really hard).
16* 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. However, there was also at least one time when Bertie remembered the aesop, but decided to ignore it in order to prove he didn't need Jeeves. [[spoiler: He did.]]
17* AffectionateGestureToTheHead: In the very first episode, Bingo does this to Oswald Glossop (the boy he's tutoring) during dinner, dismissing something the boy just said.
18* AgeLift: Though Jeeves' age is never given in the stories, it's implied he's rather older than Bertie, especially as he has a niece who's old enough to marry one of Bertie's friends. In real life, Stephen Fry is only two years older than Hugh Laurie.
19%%* AmbiguouslyJewish: New York theater owner Blumenfeld and his son.%%How?
20%%* AnimatedCreditsOpening: Watch it [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=190C8rRKe3w&feature=related here]].%%Weblinks aren't context.
21%%* ApronMatron: Aunt Dahlia
22* ArcWords: More like Episode Words for Roderick Spode: "Eulalie" and "Celia."
23* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking: The principles of Roderick Spode's miniature fascist movement.
24** Introducing his manifesto to "rebuild Britain":
25--->"Our policies are clear, our policies are just, our policies are fully laid out in my book, ''Whither England?'', priced three and sixpence from all good booksellers.
26** Reading out the "policies" of the manifesto:
27---> "One: the right -- nay, the duty! -- of every free-born Englishman to grow his own potatoes. Two: an immediate ban on the import of foreign root vegetables into the United Kingdom. And three: the compulsory scientific measurement of all adult male knees!"
28* ArtisticLicenceLaw: Roderick Spode announces his intention to renounce his peerage title in order to stand for the House of Commons. This was not permitted in the UK until 1963, when a law was passed allowing it so that Tony Benn, Viscount Stansgate, could do exactly that.
29* AshFace:
30** Happens to Constable Oates when using some dynamite to blow open Sir Watkyn Bassett's broken safe. He lights the dynamite and instead of taking cover just steps back a few feet and watches.
31** Bertie, Cheesewright, Lord Worplesdon and Mr. Clam are zapped by a lightning and become covered by soot afterwards.
32* AtTheOperaTonight: In one episode, Tuppy drags his friends -- Bertie included -- to watch his new girlfriend's opera and quickly nod off. Even Tuppy looks desolate when Bertie informs him that there are ''four'' acts.
33* 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-fiancée. (Just to remind you, Jeeves is played by Creator/StephenFry, [[TheBigGuy who is nearly six-and-a-half feet tall, and does not have what you would call a traditionally feminine build]].)
34--> '''Aunt Dahlia:''' What do you mean, Cheesewright's taken a fancy to her? She's Jeeves!
35* BatmanGambit: Jeeves is the master of the Gambit, based on what he calls "the psychology of the individual."
36* BeachBury: In the episode where Bertie is staying by the seaside and his aunt's necklace gets stolen, there's a scene that opens with Bertie already buried, which hampers his ability to run away from the girl of the week when she shows up. One can only assume that he asked Jeeves to bury him.
37* BedsheetLadder: Subverted. In one episode Gussie wanted to use Bertie's sheet to escape. Bertie refused to let him, as much because it wouldn't work as because he didn't want his sheets dirty and knotted.
38* BerserkButton:
39** Timid, wobbly Gussie Fink-Nottle cannot ''abide'' anyone messing with his newts. When Sir Watkyn, his would-be father-in-law, washes them down the tub, Gussie calls him an unmitigated ass.
40** Don't try to get rude with or cheat on Madeline unless you're sure Spode won't find out.
41* BetterWithNonHumanCompany: Gussy Fink-Nottle finds newts easy, people difficult. Especially women.
42* BigEater:
43** Tuppy Glossop, to the point that it becomes a point of contention with his fiancée Angela, who thinks he's more concerned about what's on his plate than her well-being.
44** Lord Biddlesham, who is actually sent into Glossop's clinic to be cured of his gluttonous ways.
45* BigNo: Sir Watkyn Bassett, upon learning of [[spoiler:Bertie and Madeleine's "engagement"]].
46* BlackmailIsSuchAnUglyWord: Set up and then averted in "A Plan for Gussie", when Bertie is trying to retrieve Gussie's notebook (which is full of hateful observations on Roderick Spode and Sir Watkyn Bassett) from Stephanie. Stephanie won't give the notebook back unless Bertie gets Jeeves to try and convince Sir Watkyn to allow Stephanie and Pinker to marry.
47-->'''Bertie:''' Stiffy... are you trying to ''blackmail'' me?\
48>*[[{{Beat}} beat]]*\
49'''Stephanie:''' Yes.
50* 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:
51-->[[note]]''(banging on the door, muffled voice can be heard)''\
52'''Ms. Rockmetteller:''' There's somebody in that room!\
53'''Bertie:''' Er... no, it's an earthquake.\
54'''Ms. Rockmetteller:''' An earthquake?\
55'''Bertie:''' Well, more of a tremor, really. Nothing to worry about.\
56''(more banging and shouting)''\
57'''Ms. Rockmetteller:''' There's somebody in there, I say!\
58'''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.\
59'''Lord Chiswick:''' ''(through door)'' This door is locked!\
60'''Ms. Rockmetteller:''' He said it's locked!\
61'''Bertie:''' Yyyyes, it did sound like that, didn't it? What he actually said was "the whole building rocked".\
62'''Ms. Rockmetteller:''' Rocked?\
63'''Bertie:''' Yes, it's alright, Jeeves. We'll have you out of there in no time.\
64'''Jeeves:''' ''(coming from the kitchen)'' I've brought you some fresh tea, sir.\
65'''Ms. Rockmetteller:''' That's Jeeves!\
66'''Jeeves:''' Yes, madam?\
67'''Ms. Rockmetteller:''' Then who is in that room?\
68'''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?\
69'''Ms. Rockmetteller:''' No! No... I was going out for a walk... yes... ''(turns to leave)''\
70'''Jeeves:''' Very good, madam. Good afternoon, Ms. Rockmetteller. ''(closes the door after her, unlocks the bedroom door)''\
71'''Lord Chiswick:''' The blasted door was locked!\
72'''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.\
73'''Lord Chiswick:''' Reporters! The devils are on my trail already![[/note]]
74** 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:
75--->[[note]]'''Bertie''': He just upped one morning and said 'I'm going to Boston', and then just sort of, went to Boston. Extraordinary thing.\
76'''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 ?\
77'''Bertie''': Really ?\
78'''Lady Malvern''': So this is how you have been looking after my poor dear boy, Mr Wooster ?\
79'''Wilmot Malvern enters with Jeeves looking as if nothing had happened''' \
80'''Wilmot''': Mother! Good Heavens!\
81'''[[{{Beat}} An awkward pause]]'''\
82'''Wilmot''': I've been to Buffalo.\
83'''Lady Malvern looks disapproving'''\
84'''Wilmot''': No, no, no... Baltimore!\
85'''Lady Malvern continues to look unimpressed'''\
86'''Wilmot''': Jeeves, where have I been, beginning with B?\
87'''Jeeves''': Prison, sir? [[/note]]
88* BlueAndOrangeMorality:
89** 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, mustaches, monogrammed handkerchiefs, 'American hats' or white dinner jackets. He is driven to weeping upon hearing that Bertie's friend Rocky "dresses" by throwing on a sweater over his pyjamas at 5 in the afternoon.
90** There's also the Code of the Woosters, which means that Bertie can never do something so unchivalrous as break an engagement. He can, however, get the girl to break it off through lying to her and her family, stealing, blackmailing, and ruining other people's relationships so the girl will go back to her ex.
91* BrattyHalfPint: The children that appear are all spoiled terrors who make life miserable for pretty much everyone around them. Seeing one get a cuff around the ear results in quite a bit of ''schadenfreude''.
92* BrawnHilda: Honoria Glossop, who is strong of body and mind, and always makes Bertie wince whenever she proffers a friendly slap on the arm.
93* BritsLoveTea: Jeeves brings Bertie one every morning as would be typical for a British gentleman. Bertie refers to his morning cuppa as "the life-saving"
94%%* BuffySpeak: Bertie is especially prone to this.%%Prone to what?
95* ButHeSoundsHandsome: When Bertie and Gussie spend an episode pretending to be each other, they both do this. Bertie-as-Gussie says that Bertie is one of the finest minds of his generation; Gussie-as-Bertie talks about how fulfilling it would be to have as many newts as Gussie does.
96* ButtMonkey: Bertie is this to practically everyone (including his valet! [[http://www.bartleby.com/81/12129.html Then again...]])
97* 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.
98* CaptainObvious:
99** Bertie. "Also, ribbon-like seaweed... [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment which is seaweed that sort of looks like... ribbon."]]
100** And this exchange:
101--->'''Aunt Dahlia:''' Have you heard of Market Snodsbury Grammar School?\
102'''Bertie:''' Never.\
103'''Aunt Dahlia:''' It's a grammar school. In Market Snodsbury.
104* TheCastShowOff: Bertie Wooster was not a musician in the books. This was added into the series to show off Hugh Laurie's piano-playing and love of 1920s and '30s songs.
105* CatapultNightmare: In "Return to New York", Bertie experiences this after spending an unwanted night on the town with Claude and Eustace. Accompanied by yelling of "NO NO I DON'T WANT ANY MORE CHAMPAGNE!"
106* CharacterDevelopment: Sir Roderick Glossop mellows out over the second season, in sort of a small-scale HeelFaceTurn.
107%%** Otherwise mostly averted.%%How?
108* CharacterNameAlias: When Bertie and his friends get arrested. Since the magistrate is Bertie's friend Chuffy, he knows who they really are, but plays along:
109-->'''Magistrate:''' 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.\
110'''Bertie:''' I say!\
111'''Magistrate:''' Quiet, Dr. Crippen!
112* ChickMagnet:
113** Bertie manages to attract a large number of women. Then again, he's rich, not too hard on the eyes and quite a pleasant person.
114** Jeeves occasionally gets a female admirer or two himself.
115-->'''Waitress:''' (to Jeeves) Say, you're pretty cute, you know that?\
116'''Jeeves:''' Thank you. So I have been informed.\
117'''Waitress:''' (Giggling) You really slay me.\
118'''Bertie:''' Jeeves, you seem to have a fatal fascination with the women in this country.\
119'''Jeeves:''' Yes, it is a problem, sir.\
120'''Bertie:''' No chance of your switching it off, or something, I suppose?\
121'''Jeeves:''' I regret not, sir. I have to learn to bear it.\
122'''Bertie:''' As do the rest of us, Jeeves.
123* CompromisingMemoirs: Sir Watkin's memoirs become the centre of a truly awesome farce.
124* ConfrontingYourImposter:
125** In season 1 episode 5, "Brinkley Manor," Jeeves is away and Bertie is forced to take care of himself. While he is struggling to make tea, Barmy Fotheringay-Phipps arrives for a visit. When the phone rings, Bertie asks Barmy to answer it and pretend he is Jeeves.
126-->'''Barmy:''' Mr. Wooster's residence. ''[pause]'' Where is Mr. Wooster? He's not at home, sir. I'm Jeeves. ''[pause]'' What do you mean 'you think not?' ''[pause]'' Oh! ''[He hangs up.]''\
127'''Bertie:''' Who was it?\
128'''Barmy:''' Jeeves!
129** Used later on a BrickJoke. In an earlier episode, Bertie had pretended to be a writer of romance novels under the pseudonym "Rosie M. Banks" in order to help one of his friends convince his uncle to approve of an engagement to a woman of lower social station. It doesn't work the first time, but in the fourth season, when his friend has fallen for another woman of lower social station, it proves to be helpful and after some initial reluctance the uncle is willing to support the marriage. [[spoiler: That is, until it's revealed that the woman Bertie's friend married actually IS Rosie M. Banks, and she's quite indignant that someone has been impersonating her, and insulted that the uncle doesn't believe her.]]
130* CoolOldLady: Aunt Dahlia, who is quite happy to plot and scheme her way into getting what she wants. Though she still pushes Bertie around, she's far more affectionate than Aunt Agatha.
131* CorruptTheCutie: PlayedForLaughs. Bertie, in New York City at the time, is essentially blackmailed into looking after Lord Wilmot Pershore, a young fellow chafing under his overbearing mother's thumb. Bertie is supposed to keep Wilmot away from all the temptations of the city, things like jazz shows and speakeasies, much to Bertie's annoyance as those are the sorts of things he enjoys going to in New York. So Bertie goes out and leaves Wilmot in his apartment, but of course Wilmot doesn't stay there: he goes and spends all his money at a club and has to be rescued by Jeeves. At the end of it, Mottie is so wasted Jeeves has to carry him over his shoulder out of the cab and up to the apartment. When Wilmot finally comes to hours later, Bertie checks on him, asking what happened. Mottie, who has always been straitjacketed by his mother and never had the opportunity to act out in any way, has this to say:
132-->'''Wilmot:''' I drank too much. Much too much. ''Lots and lots'' too much. And what's more, I'm going to do it again. I'm going to do it ''every night.''
133* CutHisHeartOutWithASpoon:
134** Over the course of one episode, Stilton Cheesewright threatens to break Bertie's "rotten spine in [three, four, five, '''[[SerialEscalation SIX]]'''] places!".
135** [[LargeHam Spode]] is fond of making threats of this calibre, one particularly fine example can be found [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4MgQD7VJZY&feature=relmfu here]]
136* DarkSecret: Jeeves reveals British fascist leader Sir Roderick Spode's terrible secret to Bertie: [[spoiler:Spode owns a ladies' fashion boutique]]. Should this become widely known it would ruin his reputation.
137--> '''Bertie''': You can't be a successful Dictator and [[spoiler:design womens' underclothing]]. One or the other. Not both.
138* IHaveYourWife: Roderick Spode, in the final episode, chooses to renounce his title of the Earl of Sidcup, to contest election to the House of Commons. He is, however, convinced to take back his title after Jeeves reveals the secret of 'Celia'- [[spoiler:a kangaroo he whisked away from Australia, which Jeeves brings before him]].
139%%* DashinglyDapperDerby: Jeeves' hat of choice.
140* DeadpanSnarker: Jeeves, Jeeves, Jeeves. Although he's quite reliant on the StealthInsult.
141* DeliberateValuesDissonance: While the show incorporates a MinstrelShow from the books, it also criticizes the practice by having Jeeves point out how unlikely it was that plantation slaves [[HappinessInSlavery enjoyed their lot in life]].
142* DirtyCommies: Bingo falls in love with a member of a Communist revolutionary group and delivers fiery speeches about the bourgeoisie in a park under a fake beard so none of his bourgeois friends or relatives can recognize him. He invites himself and his new Communist friends over to Bertie's flat for tea, wherein both Bertie and Jeeves have to pretend to be Communists as well (not very successfully). Much HypocriticalHumour ensues as the Communists find themselves in a fancy apartment and being served fancy food.
143* DisguisedInDrag: "The Delayed Arrival" has both Jeeves and Bertie briefly in drag; Jeeves disguised as an American author, and Bertie as a maid.
144* TheDitz:
145** Cyril "Barmy" Fotheringay-Phipps [Adam Blackwood, then recast with a young Creator/MartinClunes] is well-named. He can't even get a water-spraying flower to work.
146---> "I don't think I've ever been to Kensington."\
147"[...]Yes, you have. Your mother lives in Kensington."\
148"Oh, ''that'' Kensington!"
149** Bertie himself isn't overly gifted with intelligence, although compared to most of his social set he's a certified genius.
150* DramaticSitDown: Used for comedic effect in one episode, the normally unfazeable Jeeves has to stop and sit down on a convenient rock when a friend of Bertie's mentions that he often wears his pajamas well into the afternoon.
151* DrunkenMontage: Season three, episode one shows the feckless character Wooster is supposed to keep out of trouble cutting loose this way.
152* EmbarrassingFirstName:
153** Lord Chuffnell's first name is Marmaduke. His friends all know him as "Chuffy".
154** Tuppy seems embarrassed when Bertie learns his real first name, Hildebrand.
155** Likewise, in a late episode one Mr. Trotter avoids a knighthood for fear of being known as "Sir Lemuel". (This was likely based on Wodehouse's own fears of becoming known as "Sir Pelham".)
156* EvilMatriarch: Aunt Agatha. Not so much "evil" as "constantly short-tempered and taking none of Bertie's shit", but the trope still stands.
157* ExactWords: when Stilton Cheesewright confronts Bertie about taking his fiancé to a "low nightclub," Bertie asks Jeeves for confirmation that he said he was going to bed with an improving book, leaving out that after he had said that Jeeves had informed him that Cheesewright's fiancé was indeed dragging him out to a low nightclub.
158* 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. 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 off 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.
159%%* {{Expy}}: Jimmy Mundy, for evangelical preacher Billy Sunday.%%How?
160* {{Fanservice}}: The earlier episodes like showing [[ShowerScene Bertie in the bathtub a lot]].
161* FascinatingEyebrow: Jeeves, constantly. Sir Roderick Glossop has these, too.
162* FinaleCredits: The [[GrandFinale last episode]] showed the title characters running from an angry mob during the end credits.
163* ForgetfulJones: Charles Edward "Biffy" Biffen. When he says he's lost the girl he loves, he means it.
164* FrenchCuisineIsHaughty: Aunt Dahlia's French chef Anatole tends to be very temperamental and prone to threatening to quit whenever he feels like his work is not being appreciated.
165* FullNameUltimatum: The very first scene: "I find you guilty as charged, ''Bertram... Wilberforce... Wooster!''"
166* FunnyBackgroundEvent:
167** Arriving back from a tour across America, Bertie comes to his apartment wearing [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking a cowboy hat, a very furry jacket, and a mustache]]. After he hands the hat to Jeeves, Jeeves can be seen handing the hat off to the doorman, who takes it and puts it on as he's leaving.
168** Just about every scene in the Drones Club shows the other members up to varying kinds of jackassery that wouldn't be out of place in a college frat house.
169* {{Geek}}: Gussie Fink-Nottle, his particular geek-dom being newts.
170* GenteelInterbellumSetting: The series is set in an idealized version of England at an indeterminate point between the World Wars, and largely picks and chooses on matters of detail -- Bertie Wooster drives a mid-'30s car, for instance, but Prohibition is still alive and well when he visits the US. (Not to mention how the Twin Towers appear in the very first scene set in New York, despite the fact that they were built in the ''1970s''! The interior shots, however, do look consistently like pre-war New York buildings.)
171* GorgeousPeriodDress: It makes a man wish that dinner jackets (tuxedos to Americans) were still ''de rigueur,'' even when dining alone in your own home.
172* GoshDangItToHeck: Played for laughs at one point where Bertie says "blasted" when talking to Aunt Agatha. A group of old ladies nearby react with horror and Aunt Agatha angrily tells Bertie to watch his language.
173* GuileHero: Jeeves.
174* HairOfTheDog / HideousHangoverCure: This is one of the first things Jeeves does for Bertie upon arriving. A generous splash of cognac, a raw egg, some black pepper, and a few other secret ingredients make for a drink that wipes out Bertie's hangover within seconds.
175* HangingJudge: "In Court After the Boat Race (or, Jeeves' Arrival)" features Sir Watkyn Bassett 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 £250.
176%%* HaveAGayOldTime: ''Stiffie'' Byng.
177* TheHelpHelpingThemselves: In "Pearls Mean Tears", Bertie's aunt Agatha accuses her maid of stealing her pearl necklace and goes off on her. In the end, after he finds the real culprits, Bertie gives Agatha a withering TheReasonYouSuckSpeech deriding her maltreatment of her maid and her bad judgement that allowed the necklace to be stolen in the first place.
178* 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 actually calls out "Don't listen, Jeeves!" aware of the profound impact this will have on his manservant.
179* HeterosexualLifePartners: The title characters, despite the fact that one of them is played by Creator/StephenFry.
180* 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.
181* HurricaneOfEuphemisms: "The money! The oof, the dibs, the do-re-mi! The happy cabbage! The oil of palm!" "Yes, I ''do'' speak English."
182%%* HypercompetentSidekick: Jeeves
183* {{Hypocrite}}: Roderick Spode, about Communists. He ridicules the Red Dawn in particular and Communists in general, even though he made an entry into the show with overly populist promises not very different from them. And when the Red Dawn members got violent, he condemned their unruly ways, only to call for violence from his own Black Shorts.
184* IdleRich: Bertie, and many of his acquaintances. When Lady Glossop, scouting a husband for her daughter, inquires if he's employed, the best Bertie can offer is that he is ''thinking'' about getting a job.
185* IHaveThisFriend:
186** 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.
187** Although played straight at least once, when he tried to ask for Jeeves' help with a situation that came about because he deliberately ''hadn't'' asked for help, in order to prove he didn't always need him.
188* InflationaryDialogue: Bertie is trying to pose as author Rosie M. Banks for his friend Bingo's family. Bingo's young cousin asks him how many words there are on a page. Clearly having no idea, he comes out with:
189-->Uh... twenty or thirty. I mean, depends on the page. About... two hundred. About a thousand, more or less. I mean, on a single page, you mean. Yes, mmm... about ten thousand. I mean, that would be one of the bigger pages.
190* [[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.
191** 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.
192* InterClassRomance:
193** Bingo, 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, even forcing Bertie to impersonate the writer. The uncle ''is'' convinced and promptly marries his cook -- meaning he cannot afford to give Bingo the increased inheritance he was hoping for to make the marriage possible.
194** Bingo does end up getting married to a woman of a lower social class, however -- the very woman who wrote those romance novels his uncle was such a fan of!
195** Likewise, Uncle George, the Earl of Yaxley, has a habit of falling love with barmaids. He eventually gets married to his original barmaid.
196* ItsAllAboutMe: Everyone in Bertie's social circle are perfectly willing to ruin the lives of everyone else around them, but are appalled the moment anything remotely inconveniences them.
197* ItsBeenDone: In "Return to New York", Tuppy's recipe for cockaleekie soup isn't as secret as he thinks it is.
198* 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]].
199* JerkAss: Stiffie Byng seems to relish throwing Bertie to the lions to accomplish whatever she's trying to do in each episode (generally getting her guardian to approve of her marrying her sweetheart, the village curate).
200* TheJeeves: An incarnation of the TropeNamer.
201* 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."
202* JustEatGilligan: Bertie can never just explain beforehand that he doesn't ''want'' to get engaged or even just break it off once he's in the situation. It's against the chivalrous "Code of the Woosters", so it always requires a complex social scheme (usually from Jeeves) or a lucky turn or two to get him out of it. Lying, stealing identities, scheming, stealing, and breaking up other people's engagements so the girl would get back together with her ex, that's all fine.
203* TheKlutz: Rev. Harold "Stinker" Pinker is constantly knocking things over, particularly tables.
204* LargeHam:
205** Roderick Spode. It helps that he was written as a NoCelebritiesWereHarmed version 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 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 ego trip 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. Specifically, if you actually listen to his speeches, you will not only notice plenty of {{Cloudcuckoolander}} ideas ([[InsaneTrollLogic replacing 27,000 miles of railway track in order to widen their spacing by eight inches to facilitate the transportation of livestock, paid for by the fact that sheep will be able to stand sideways]]), but also a lot of mixed metaphors ("to take up the reins of the ship of state"), impressive-sounding banalities ("Tomorrow is another day! The future lies ahead!"), and sentences which he thinks will be profound sound-bites but clearly show that he has no idea what he's talking about ("Rome may have been built in a day, [[PunctuatedForEmphasis but it took only a TRUMPET. To bring down. The walls. Of Jericho!").]]
206** The priest at Twing. "Do we, like Ezekiel... DOUBT... the Lord's power? Do we, like Ezekiel... ask... 'Can these bones LIIIVE?'" Later on, we see him when he's not sermonizing, and he is -- if anything -- even more over-the-top: "Wrrrrretched boy!"
207* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: At the end of the second episode of the second season, Bertie starts playing the theme song on piano, leading into the closing credits.
208%%* LoveFreak: Madeline Bassett.
209* LoveInformant: In the first episode, Bertie Wooster attempts to play this role for his friend Bingo Little, who is infatuated with Honoria Glossop, but Honoria instead gets the impression that he's speaking on his own behalf, and spends the rest of the series convinced that Bertie is pining for her.
210* MajoredInWesternHypocrisy: An episode where Bertie blacks up and attempts [[YouNoTakeCandle caveman-speak]] to impersonate a visiting African chief is arguably saved from cringeworthiness when the real chief shows up in a Rolls-Royce, with an entourage, turns out to have a posher voice than Bertie, and to be an Old Harrovian (educated in England).
211* MeaningfulName:
212** 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,"
213** Also, Jeeves belongs to a club for valets called [[http://community.livejournal.com/indeedsir/634398.html The Junior Ganymede]]...
214** The club that Bertie and his friends belong to is called the Drones. Rich young men with nothing to do, buzzing around wasting time until they are forced to marry and father children, their only serious responsibility in life being to breed and continue the HeirClubForMen. So pretty much ''exactly'' like drone bees.
215** Another one is that it wouldn't be too surprising if Bertie was named after/alludes to Prince Bertie, the future King Edward VII, for whom the Edwardian Age was named. 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.
216* {{Metaphorgotten}}:
217-->'''Spode''': Because he's a butterfly, who toys with women's hearts and throws them aside like soiled gloves!\
218'''Bertie''': [[LiteralMinded Do butterflies do that?]]
219* MistakenForCheating: In more than one episode, Madeline walks in on Gussie in compromising but completely innocent positions with other women.
220%%* NameAndName
221* 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.
222* {{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."
223%%* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Bertie's trademark.
224* NoFullNameGiven: Jeeves. His first name isn't revealed until the final episode; it hadn't occurred to Bertie that he even had one.
225* NoGuyWantsAnAmazon: Bertie is constantly dodging engagement proposals from women, but Honoria Glossop may be the only woman he's actually afraid of marrying
226* NoIndoorVoice:
227** Aunt Dahlia.
228** [[LargeHam Spode is capable of speaking in a quiet and calm manner, he just rarely does so.]]
229* NoodleIncident: "Bridegroom Wanted" ends with everyone who has a grudge with Bertie cornering him and Jeeves on a ship. With no other alternative, they both jump off the ship, and the scene cuts to Bertie's apartment in London, several months later, with both Bertie and Jeeves just arriving home in tattered clothing and with very long beards, after apparently rowing home...going the wrong way around the world, if their comments are to be believed. Bertie remarks that if his hat could talk, it would have some pretty interesting tales to tell.
230* NoSenseOfHumor: Sir Roderick Glossop not only has no sense of humor, he seems to think that humor is an obvious sign of insanity, given his reactions to the constantly jovial Bertie.
231* NotEvenBotheringWithTheAccent: In-universe. When Jeeves wants to alert the police to the fact that people are creeping around the village with blackened faces, he attempts to use rustic dialect ("It be old Boggy. He be abroad tonight...") but still delivered in his usual RP accent.
232* NotWhatItLooksLike: Happens constantly to Gussie and often enough to Bertie
233* {{Oireland}}: There's an episode in which Gussie and Spode are hired to play a pair of stage Irishmen named Pat and Mike for the village talent show. They put on woolly green beards and wave around umbrellas. Gussy really can't do the accent and Spode doesn't even bother. Much like the episode with the blackface minstrels, it managed to avoid being offensive just by being utterly ludicrous.
234* OneSteveLimit: Averted in Sir Roderick Glossop and Roderick Spode; Cyril "Barmy" Fotheringay-Phipps and Cyril Bassington-Bassington; and Brinkley the valet and Brinkley Court.
235** Accidentally averted in the case of Sir Roderick Glossop and Hildebrandt "Tuppy" Glossop. In the books, Tuppy was Roderick's nephew, but this is never mentioned on the series.
236** In a later episode, Brinkley the valet's name was retconned when Jeeves informed Bertie that his name was Bingley, not Brinkley, and Bingley just never bothered correcting him.
237* 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. Likewise, Bertie appears shocked to learn that Tuppy's first name is Hildebrand.
238** Other members of the Drones Club, like Boko Fittleworth and Oofy Prosser, as well.
239* OutOfCharacterMoment:
240** Despite Jeeves's remarkably superior language skills (which, in the first episode, were shown to stretch to American phrases such as 'hooch'), Bertie has to translate ''New York diner slang'' for him in "The Full House".
241--->'''Jeeves:''' "Just a cup of coffee, please."\
242'''Waitress:''' "You got it."\
243'''Jeeves:''' "No, I don't believe I do, madam."
244** 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. (It's possible, given the sheer number of Jazz Age celebrities that show up in the stories of these parties, that he made them up.)
245* PaletteSwap: Spode's fascist organisation uses the same badge as the real-life British Union of Fascists, but in the colours of the Nazi party.
246* ParentalMarriageVeto: Usually from Sir Watkyn Bassett, trying to prevent his young ward Stephanie from marrying the Rev. Harold "Stinker" Pinker.
247* ParentsForADay: "Return to New York", when Bertie's "temporary kidnapping" of a child doesn't go the way he plans.
248* PoliticallyCorrectHistory: A definite aversion as the series manages to have scenes with blackface minstrels 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, though.
249%%* PoorCommunicationKills: The reason for 90% of the conflicts in the series.%%How?
250* PostWakeUpRealization: The first meeting between the title protagonists occurs when Wooster wakes up with a horrible hangover and tries to comprehend what happens to his home, as Jeeves reverses the utter chaos of his apartment at inhuman speeds.
251* ProducePelting: The crowd are sure to love a rendition of ''Sonny Boy''!
252* PunchedAcrossTheRoom: Happens to Wooster once, in a rather surreal moment.
253* PunctuatedForEmphasis: "ANATOLE. HAS GIVEN. NOTICE."
254* 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.
255%%* RedOniBlueOni: Bertie is the former, Jeeves the latter.%%How?
256* RunningGag: Stinker Pinker repeatedly tripping and falling over, Spode getting hit on the head, the American lift operator's confused manner each time he encounters Wooster, like he feels something's perpetually not right.
257* SceneryCensor: In one episode there is a nude statue of a child in the background, with a flower ''just'' between its legs.
258%%* SerialRomeo: Richard "Bingo" Little
259%%* ServileSnarker: Jeeves.
260* SesquipedalianLoquaciousness: Jeeves absolutely enjoys explaining things to Bertie in the most professor-like manner possible.
261* {{Shoutout}}: In the first episode, one of Bertie's cousins mentions that Bertie's last valet stole his socks, a reference to an episode of ''Series/{{Blackadder}} the Third'', though technically, Blackadder was a butler, not a valet.
262* SoftGlass: Bertie Wooster jumps through a closed glass window and emerges unharmed.
263%%* SpockSpeak: Jeeves
264%%* SpoiledBrat: Stiffy Byng
265
266* StatusQuoIsGod: An episode may begin with Jeeves giving notice or Bertie getting engaged, but things are always back to normal by the end -- if not of this episode, then the next. This trope is less applicable to the supporting characters, who ''do'' sometimes undergo major life-changes. This is most pronounced in a Season 2 episode, when Bertie becomes frustrated with the monotony of his life ("it's just the bally balliness of it all that makes it so bally bally") and considers settling down and starting a family. By the end of the episode, he has decided that his life is exciting enough already, and the quiet moments he found annoying before are actually extremely comforting -- and that [[BrattyHalfPint children are awful]].
267* StealthInsult:
268**
269--->'''Bertie:''' Oh, stop playing with the hat, Jeeves. I knew you wouldn't like it.\
270'''Jeeves:''' Oh, not at all, sir!
271**
272--->'''Bertie:''' She gave it to me, you know. Trying to improve my mind, I dare say.\
273'''Jeeves:''' That seems scarcely possible, sir.
274** Jeeves sneaks in a dig at the song "Nagasaki" in response to Bertie's expressed love of the song:
275--->'''Jeeves:''' Extremely... ''invigorating'', sir.\
276'''Bertie:''' Yes, Jeeves, that is just the word I would have used. Yes, it makes you want to get up and bally well have a run 'round the park.\
277'''Jeeves:''' My feelings precisely, sir.
278* SuckinessIsPainful: See HeroicBSOD above; Bertie's friends' more garish fashion decisions seem to cause Jeeves actual physical discomfort.
279* TakeOurWordForIt: Subverted in "Introduction on Broadway" when we finally do get to see Corky's hideously Cubist painting.
280* TapOnTheHead: Extensively. Roderick Spode in particular has it happen to him in ''every'' episode he appears in.
281* ATasteOfTheirOwnMedicine: After all the crazy schemes and shenanigans Jeeves puts Bertie through, in 4x04 "The Delayed Arrival" Bertie categorically ''refuses'' to dress up and pretend to be a visiting, female American novelist -- thus Jeeves is the one donning the getup.
282* ThemeAndVariationsSoundtrack: The jazzy opening theme tune gets reworked to set all kinds of different moods.
283* TheyStoleOurAct: In one episode, Jeeves deliberately arranges for this to occur, as part of his current scheme.
284* 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.
285* UglyGuyHotWife: Gussie Fink-Nottle and Madeleine Bassett, although they're merely engaged, not actually married. Since they're both {{Cloudcuckoolander}}s, they match in personality in a way what they don't in looks.
286* UngratefulBastard: Bingo Little takes the cake in "Bridegroom Wanted!", where after being hitched with Rosie M. Banks, he doesn't help Bertie at all to avoid the wrath of his wife who intends to sue Bertie for impersonating her, even if it was Bingo's idea in the first place, as he doesn't want her to know he forced Wooster to do so to help him get another girl.
287* 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."
288* 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. Bertie isn't ''dumb'', exactly, but his upbringing has left him with no practical life skills and a generally lazy attitude.
289* VitriolicBestBuds: The title characters to some extent. Bertie and his Aunt Dahlia very much so.
290* 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]].
291* XanatosSpeedChess: Jeeves can work around almost anything that spoils his stratagems on a moment's notice.
292* YouLookFamiliar:
293** The actress who plays Madeline in the first series comes back as Florence in the last series. Also TheOtherDarrin.
294** Rupert Steggles, sinister gambler and con man, comes back as the second Gussie Fink-Nottle, kind-hearted and timid newt fancier.
295%%* ZanyScheme: Every. Single. Episode.

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