Blandings (radio series)

Last updated
Blandings
BBC Radio Collection Galahad at Blandings audio cassette cover.jpg
Cover of the audio cassette release of Galahad at Blandings, part of the Blandings radio series
GenreComedy
Running time30 minutes
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Language(s)English
Home station BBC Radio 4
Starring Richard Vernon
Ian Carmichael
Written by Richard Usborne, adapted from the works of P. G. Wodehouse
Produced byBobby Jaye
Martin Fisher
Gareth Edwards
Narrated by Nigel Anthony
Ronald Fletcher
Moray Watson
Original release2 February 1985 –
13 February 1992
No. of episodes25

The Blandings radio series is a series of radio dramas based on the Blandings Castle stories by British comic writer P. G. Wodehouse. [1] The stories were dramatised by Wodehouse biographer Richard Usborne. [2] The series ran between 1985 and 1992 on BBC Radio 4.

Contents

The 1985 episodes are based on six short stories. The first five of these short stories were featured in the collection Blandings Castle and Elsewhere (1935), while the sixth, "The Crime Wave at Blandings", was collected in Lord Emsworth and Others (1937). The later episodes are based on four novels published between 1929 and 1965.

Production

The short story episodes broadcast in 1985 were produced by Bobby Jaye. Martin Fisher produced the episodes based on Summer Lightning, Pigs Have Wings and Heavy Weather, and Gareth Edwards produced the episodes based on Galahad at Blandings. [3]

Main cast

Episode list

The seven episodes released in 1985 are based on Blandings Castle short stories, while later episodes are based on novels.

Short stories

The additional cast for the short stories included Michael Goldie as Mr Donaldson ("The Custody of the Pumpkin"), [4] Phillada Sewell as Mrs Twemlow, Fiona Mathieson as Aggie Threepwood, Valerie Colgan as Jane Yorke ("Lord Emsworth Grows a Beard"), [5] Peter Tuddenham as the magistrate, Diana Martin as Angela, and Edward Duke as James Belford ("Pig-hoo-o-o-o-ey!"), [6] Sheila Keith as Lady Marshall, Nicholas Courtney as the Rev. Rupert "Beefy" Bingham, Wendy Murray as Gertrude ("Company for Gertrude"), [7] Susanna Dawson as Gladys ("Lord Emsworth and the Girlfriend"), [8] Helen Atkinson-Wood as Jane, Michael McClain as Baxter ("The Crime Wave at Blandings") [9] and Henry Stamper as McAllister.

EpisodeTitleFirst broadcastOriginal story
1The Custody of the Pumpkin2 February 1985"The Custody of the Pumpkin" [4]
2Lord Emsworth Grows a Beard9 February 1985"Lord Emsworth Acts for the Best" [5]
3Pig-hoo-o-o-o-ey16 February 1985"Pig-hoo-o-o-o-ey" [6]
4Company for Gertrude23 February 1985"Company for Gertrude" [7]
5Lord Emsworth and the Girlfriend2 March 1985"Lord Emsworth and the Girl Friend" [8]
6The Crime Wave at Blandings: Part 19 March 1985"The Crime Wave at Blandings"
7The Crime Wave at Blandings: Part 216 March 1985"The Crime Wave at Blandings" [9]

Summer Lightning

Adapted from Summer Lightning (1929). In addition to the regular cast, the cast included Graham Seed as Ronnie Fish, Royce Mills as Hugo Carmody, Wendy Murray as Millicent, Susannah Fellows as Sue Brown, [10] Christopher Godwin as Baxter, and Roger Sloman as Pilbeam. [11] [12]

EpisodeTitleFirst broadcast
1Trouble Brewing at Blandings12 March 1987
2Sensational Theft of a Pig18 March 1987
3A Job for Percy Pilbeam25 March 1987
4Activities of Beach the Butler1 April 1987
5Painful Scene in a Bedroom8 April 1987
6Gally Takes Matters in Hand16 April 1987

Heavy Weather

Adapted from Heavy Weather (1933). Additional actors included John Savident as Lord Tilbury, Josephine Tewson as Lady Julia, Royce Mills as Monty Bodkin, Jeremy Nicholas as Hugo, Charles Collingwood as Ronnie Fish, Moir Leslie as Sue Brown, Norman Bird as Pirbright, [13] and Roger Sloman as Pilbeam. [14]

EpisodeTitleFirst broadcast
1The Wrath of Lord Tilbury12 July 1988
2Lady Julia Enters the Fray19 July 1988
3Gally's Manuscript Up For Grabs26 July 1988
4Cheque Books at the Ready2 August 1988

Pigs Have Wings

Adapted from Pigs Have Wings (1952). Additional cast included Joan Sims as Maudie Digby, Susannah Fellows as Penny Donaldson, Royce Mills as Jerry Vail, Charles Collingwood as Orlo Vosper, David Graham as Binstead, [15] and Moir Leslie as Gloria Salt. [16]

EpisodeTitleFirst broadcast
1Tangled Webs22 August 1989
2Love Comes to the Ninth Earl29 August 1989
3Maudie and Tubby Make It Up5 September 1989
4Survival of the Fattest12 September 1989

Galahad at Blandings

Adapted from Galahad at Blandings (1964). Along with the main cast, the episodes featured Elizabeth Spriggs as Lady Hermione, Harold Innocent as Egbert as well as Beach, Jonathan Cecil as Wilfred, Alan Marriott as Tipton, Susannah Fellowes as Sandy, Simon Treves as Sam, Vivian Pickles as Daphne, Colin McFarlane as the US policeman, [17] Moir Leslie as Monica, Richard Pearce as Huxley, and Chris Emmett as Constable Evans. [18]

EpisodeTitleFirst broadcast
1New York and After23 January 1992
2Sundered Hearts30 January 1992
3Yoo Hoo, I'm Whipple6 February 1992
4Houdini Galahad13 February 1992

Related Research Articles

Blandings Castle is a recurring fictional location in the stories of British comic writer P. G. Wodehouse, being the seat of Lord Emsworth, home to many of his family and the setting for numerous tales and adventures. The stories were written between 1915 and 1975.

Clarence Threepwood, 9th Earl Emsworth, commonly known as Lord Emsworth, is a recurring fictional character in the Blandings Castle series of stories by British comic writer P. G. Wodehouse. He is the amiable and somewhat absent-minded head of the large Threepwood family. Longing for nothing more than to talk to his prize pig, Empress of Blandings, or potter peacefully in the idyllic gardens of Blandings Castle, he must frequently face the unpleasant reality of his domineering sisters and familial duties.

<i>Summer Lightning</i> 1929 novel by P. G. Wodehouse

Summer Lightning is a novel by P. G. Wodehouse, first published in the United States on 1 July 1929 by Doubleday, Doran, New York, under the title Fish Preferred, and in the United Kingdom on 19 July 1929 by Herbert Jenkins, London. It was serialised in The Pall Mall Magazine (UK) between March and August 1929 and in Collier's (US) from 6 April to 22 June 1929.

Montague "Monty" Bodkin is a recurring fictional character in three novels of English comic writer P. G. Wodehouse, being a wealthy young member of the Drones Club, well-dressed, well-spoken, impeccably polite, and generally in some kind of romantic trouble.

Sebastian Beach is a fictional character in the Blandings stories by P. G. Wodehouse. He is the butler at Blandings Castle, seat of Lord Emsworth and his family, where he serves for over eighteen years.

Rupert J. Baxter is a fictional character in the Blandings stories by P. G. Wodehouse. Often called the Efficient Baxter, he is Lord Emsworth's secretary, and an expert on many things, including Egyptian scarabs. He invariably wears his rimless spectacles, suspects everyone of being an impostor, and is, as his epithet suggests, extremely efficient.

The Honourable Galahad "Gally" Threepwood is a fictional character in the Blandings Castle stories by P. G. Wodehouse. Lord Emsworth's younger brother, a lifelong bachelor, Gally was, according to Beach, the Blandings butler, "somewhat wild as a young man". When he appears in the Blandings books, he is in his fifties, has thick grey hair and wears a black-rimmed monocle on a black ribbon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Empress of Blandings</span> Fictional pig in P. G. Wodehouse stories

Empress of Blandings is a fictional pig, featured in many of the Blandings Castle novels and stories by P. G. Wodehouse. Owned by the doting Lord Emsworth, the Empress is an enormous black Berkshire sow, who wins many prizes in the "Fat Pigs" class at the local Shropshire Agricultural Show, and is the subject of many plots and schemes, generally involving her kidnap for various purposes. In 2005 Hall & Woodhouse, the Dorset-based Brewers of Badger beer, named a public house in Hampshire in honour of the Empress.

Sir Gregory Parsloe-Parsloe, 7th Baronet is a fictional character from the Blandings Castle short stories and novels of British author P. G. Wodehouse. In the stories, Parsloe resides at Matchingham Hall, near Blandings Castle, and is the rival and enemy of Lord Emsworth.

<i>Heavy Weather</i> (Wodehouse novel) 1933 novel by P. G. Wodehouse

Heavy Weather is a novel by P. G. Wodehouse, first published in the United States on 28 July 1933 by Little, Brown and Company, Boston, and in the United Kingdom on 10 August 1933 by Herbert Jenkins, London. It had been serialised in The Saturday Evening Post from 27 May to 15 July 1933.

<i>Full Moon</i> (novel) 1947 novel by P. G. Wodehouse

Full Moon is a novel by P. G. Wodehouse, first published in the United States by Doubleday & Company on 22 May 1947, and in the United Kingdom by Herbert Jenkins on 17 October 1947. It is the sixth full-length novel to be set at the beautiful but trouble-ridden Blandings Castle, home of Lord Emsworth.

<i>Pigs Have Wings</i> 1952 novel by P. G. Wodehouse

Pigs Have Wings is a novel by P. G. Wodehouse, which first appeared as a serial in Collier's Weekly between 16 August and 20 September 1952. It was first published as a book in the United States on 16 October 1952 by Doubleday & Company, New York, and in the United Kingdom on 31 October 1952 by Herbert Jenkins, London. It is the seventh novel set at Blandings Castle.

George Alexander Pyke, Lord Tilbury is a recurring fictional character in the stories of British author P. G. Wodehouse. Pyke is a publishing magnate, the founder and owner of the Mammoth Publishing Company. Outside his business, he has a passion for pigs and is the owner of a prize pig named Buckingham Big Boy. Pyke appears in several novels, including two set at Blandings Castle: Heavy Weather (1933) and Service With a Smile (1961).

"Lord Emsworth Acts for the Best" is a short story by P. G. Wodehouse, which first appeared in the United Kingdom in the June 1926 Strand Magazine, and in the United States in the 5 June 1926 issue of Liberty. Part of the Blandings Castle canon, it features the absent-minded peer Lord Emsworth, and was included in the collection Blandings Castle and Elsewhere (1935), although the story takes place sometime between the events of Leave it to Psmith (1923) and Summer Lightning (1929).

"Pig-Hoo-o-o-o-ey" is a short story by P. G. Wodehouse, which first appeared in the United States in the 9 July 1927 issue of Liberty, and in the United Kingdom in the August 1927 Strand. Part of the Blandings Castle canon, it features the absent-minded peer Lord Emsworth, and was included in the collection Blandings Castle and Elsewhere (1935), although the story takes place sometime between the events of Leave It to Psmith (1923) and Summer Lightning (1929).

"Company for Gertrude" is a short story by P. G. Wodehouse, which first appeared in the United Kingdom in September 1928 in Strand, and in the United States in October 1928 in Cosmopolitan. Part of the Blandings Castle canon, it features the absent-minded peer Lord Emsworth, and was included in the collection Blandings Castle and Elsewhere (1935), though the story takes place sometime between the events of Leave it to Psmith (1923) and Summer Lightning (1929).

"Lord Emsworth and the Girl Friend" is a short story by P. G. Wodehouse, which first appeared in the United States in the 6 October 1928 issue of Liberty and in the United Kingdom in the November 1928 The Strand. Part of the Blandings Castle canon, it features the absent-minded peer Lord Emsworth, and was included in the collection Blandings Castle and Elsewhere (1935), although the story takes place sometime between the events of Leave it to Psmith (1923) and Summer Lightning (1929). Wodehouse intended to write a sequel, set 8 years after the events of this story.

Lady Constance Keeble is a recurring fictional character in the Blandings Castle stories by British comic writer P. G. Wodehouse, being Lord Emsworth's most formidable sister, a strikingly handsome woman, with a fair, broad brow, and perfectly even white teeth. She has the carriage of an empress, and her large grey eyes are misleadingly genial.

<i>Heavy Weather</i> (film) 1995 film

Heavy Weather is a television film with a screenplay by Douglas Livingstone based on the 1933 novel Heavy Weather by P. G. Wodehouse, set at Blandings Castle. It was made by the BBC and WGBH Boston, first screened by the BBC on Christmas Eve 1995 and shown in the United States on PBS's Masterpiece Theatre on 18 February 1996.

<i>Blandings</i> (TV series) British TV series or programme

Blandings is a British comedy television series adapted by Guy Andrews from the Blandings Castle stories of P. G. Wodehouse. It was first broadcast on BBC One from 13 January 2013, and stars Timothy Spall, Jennifer Saunders, Jack Farthing, Tim Vine and Mark Williams. The series was produced with the partial financial assistance of the European Regional Development Fund.

References

References
  1. ↑ "Blandings On Radio 4". British Comedy Guide. Retrieved 22 February 2018.
  2. ↑ Taves (2006), p. 133.
  3. ↑ Lucas, John (25 March 2019). "Wodehouse, Pelham Grenville". The Global British Comedy Collaborative. Retrieved 2 July 2019.
  4. 1 2 "Blandings: The Custody of the Pumpkin". BBC Genome Project. BBC. Retrieved 22 February 2018.
  5. 1 2 "Blandings: Lord Emsworth Grows a Beard". BBC Genome Project. BBC. Retrieved 22 February 2018.
  6. 1 2 "Blandings: PigHoo-oo-o-o-o-ey!". BBC Genome Project. BBC. Retrieved 22 February 2018.
  7. 1 2 "Blandings: Company for Gertrude". BBC Genome Project. BBC. Retrieved 22 February 2018.
  8. 1 2 "Blandings: Lord Emsworth and the Girlfriend". BBC Genome Project. BBC. Retrieved 22 February 2018.
  9. 1 2 "Blandings: The Crime Wave At Blandings". BBC Genome Project. BBC. Retrieved 22 February 2018.
  10. ↑ "Blandings (Summer Lightning Part 1)". BBC Genome. BBC. 2019. Retrieved 26 August 2019.
  11. ↑ "Blandings (Summer Lightning Part 3)". BBC Genome. BBC. 2019. Retrieved 26 August 2019.
  12. ↑ "Blandings: Summer Lightning". BBC Genome Project. BBC. Retrieved 22 February 2018.
  13. ↑ "Blandings: Heavy Weather: 1: The Wrath of Lord Tilbury". BBC Genome. BBC. 2019. Retrieved 26 August 2019.
  14. ↑ "Blandings: Heavy Weather Part 4". BBC Genome. BBC. 2019. Retrieved 26 August 2019.
  15. ↑ "Blandings: Pigs Have Wings Part 3". BBC Genome. BBC. 2019. Retrieved 24 August 2019.
  16. ↑ "Blandings: Pigs Have Wings Part 2". BBC Genome. BBC. 2019. Retrieved 24 August 2019.
  17. ↑ "Galahad at Blandings (Part 1)". BBC Genome. BBC. 2019. Retrieved 25 August 2019.
  18. ↑ "Galahad at Blandings (Part 3)". BBC Genome. BBC. 2019. Retrieved 25 August 2019.
Sources
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.