History Series / JeevesAndWooster

---> "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."

* 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 £500.

* OverprotectiveDad: Sir Watkyn Bassett, J. Washburn Stoker, and Sir Roderick Glossop.

* NotGoodWithPeople: Gussy Fink-Nottle finds newts easy, people difficult. Especially women.

* 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 ''five'' acts.

* RichIdiotWithNoDayJob: Many of the male characters are this trope, coming from old-money families and living off of generous allowances. It says something about how dumb they are that Wooster is probably one of the ''smarter'' ones.

* CriticalResearchFailure: One is committed by Tuppy: he has a scheme to sell the [[{{Expy}} Spritz Polecat]], an American automobile, to his fellow fops, but he fails to take into account that people in the United States ''drive on the right side of the road'', and the automobile maker won't even consider making a model for left-side driving unless he'd be selling a thousand cars a week.[[invoked]]

A 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 [[JackassGenie gives them what they need, not what they want]].

* ExactWords: when Stilton Cheesewright confronts Bertie about taking his fiancee 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 fiancee was indeed dragging him out to a low nightclub.

%%* NiceHat: So many...

* SpotOfTea: Jeeves brings Bertie one every morning. Bertie refers to his morning cuppa as "the life-saving"

** 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.

** 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!").]]

* NoNameGiven: Jeeves. His first name isn't revealed until the final episode; it hadn't occurred to Bertie that he even had one.

** Cyril "Barmy" Fotheringay-Phipps (Adam Blackwood, then recast with a young Creator/MartinClunes) is well-named.

* ExactWords: when Stilton Cheesewright confronts Bertie about taking his fiancee 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 fianncee was indeed dragging him out to a low nightclub.

** 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!").]]

** 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").]]

* GuileHero: Jeeves

* ArcWords: More like Episode Words: "Eulalie" and "Celia."

* AshFace: Happens to Constable Oates when using some dynamite to blow open Sir Watkyn Basset's broken safe. He lights the dynamite and instead of taking cover just steps back a few feet and watches.

%%* BigEater: Tuppy Glossop

--->[[note]]'''Bertie''' He just upped one morning and said 'I'm 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''' Mother! Good Heavens!\\
'''An awkward pause'''\\
'''Wilmot''' I've been to Buffalo.\\

'''Wilmot''' No, no, no... Baltimore!\\

'''Wilmot''' Jeeves, where have I been, beginning with B ?\\
'''Jeeves''' Prison, sir? [[/note]]

** 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.

** Over the course of one episode, Stilton Cheesewright threatens to break Bertie's "rotten spine in [three, four, five, '''SIX'''] places!".

* EvilMatriarch: Aunt Agatha.Not so much "evil" as "constantly short-tempered and taking none of Bertie's shit," but the trope still stands.

* 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.

** 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.

** 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. 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.

%%* SesquipedalianLoquaciousness: ''Jeeves.''

%%* TapOnTheHead: Extensively.

* 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 at least twenty. In real life, Stephen Fry is only two years older than Hugh Laurie.

* AgeLift: Though Jeeves' age is never given in the stories, it's implied he's rather older than Bertie. In real life, Stephen Fry is only two years older than Hugh Laurie.

* BedsheetLadder: Subverted. 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.

** Don't try to get rude with or cheat on Madeline unless you're sure Spode will not find out.

** 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
--->[[note]]'''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 ?\\

'''Lady Malvern''' So this is how you have been looking after my poor dear boy Mr Wooster ?\\

'''Jeeves''' Prison sir? [[/note]]

* 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 sucessfully). Much HypocriticalHumour ensues as the Communists find themselves in a fancy apartment and being served fancy food.

* EvilMatriarch: Aunt Agatha.Not so much "evil" as "constantly short-tempered and taking none of Bertie's shit," but the trope still stands
* ExactWords: when Stilton Cheesewright confronts Bertie about taking his fiancee 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 fianncee was indeed dragging him out to a low nightclub
* 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 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.

* 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)

%%* TheKlutz: Rev. Harold "Stinker" Pinker

** 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!"

* NoNameGiven: Jeeves. His first name isn't revealed until the final episode; it hadn't occured to Bertie that he even had one.
* 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
* 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

* 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 pronouneced 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]].

* AccidentalMarriage: 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.

* 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 to allow Tony Benn, Viscount Stansgate, to do exactly that.

* KnightFever: 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 to allow Tony Benn, Viscount Stansgate, to do exactly that.

* Other members of the Drones Club, like Boko Fittleworth and Oofy Prosser, as well.