Blandings (TV series)

Plot

Set in 1929, Lord Emsworth (Spall) resides at Blandings Castle, along with his imperious sister Connie (Saunders), his empty-headed son Freddie (Jack Farthing), and any number of houseguests, love-struck nieces and their boyfriends. He would rather be left in peace with his prize pig The Empress, but his family is always at hand to complicate his life. Offering a reluctant helping hand is his loyal and long-suffering butler, Beach (Mark Williams, Tim Vine).

Production

The series was produced by Mammoth Screen and was filmed on location at Crom Castle, near Newtownbutler, in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. Some scenes were also filmed at Florence Court, a National Trust property near Kinawley in south-west County Fermanagh. The producer was Spencer Campbell and the director was Paul Seed. It was the first adaptation of Blandings for British television since the BBC's film of Wodehouse's novel Heavy Weather in 1995.

On 7 June 2013, BBC commissioner Danny Cohen confirmed that Blandings would return for a second series. The new series has seven episodes and began airing 16 February 2014.

On 24 October 2013, it was announced that Tim Vine would join the cast for the new series as Beach replacing Mark Williams.

Main

Recurring

Reception

Reviews for the first episode were mixed, with Ben Lawrence of The Daily Telegraph awarding it two stars out of five and writing "Wodehouse has a perspicacity and wisdom that prevent him from being mere froth. And that was the problem with Blandings (BBC One), a six-part adaptation of the Blandings Castle stories. There was no authorial voice, wry, gently mocking, poised with a sinuous metaphor or sprightly adjective. Instead we were on our own with Lord Emsworth (Timothy Spall), his baleful sister Connie (Jennifer Saunders), vapid son Freddie (Jack Farthing) and beloved pig, the Empress, as they went about their lives in a crumbling English stately home... You can’t invest psychological complexity into Wodehouse’s characters, the clarity and depth comes from the writing, and so the cast were all at sea. The performances weren’t bad exactly, but there was an impression that the cast had raided the charity shop and were merely having a spiffing time in vintage clothing... Of course the benefit to Guy Andrews’s script was that the lovely dialogue remained intact, and no line felt cumbersome or inappropriately modern."

Quentin Letts of The Daily Mail was more enthusiastic, writing "having watched the first episode last night, I am impressed. The Beeb could have a hit on its hands. The show manages to get across the genial eccentricity of Wodehouse without overdoing the poshness, and some of the acting — particularly Mark Williams as tipsy butler Beach, a wonderful contrast to Downton’s Carson — is a delight. The plot bowls along, but there is enough time for an affectionate picture of country life to develop. And one of the prime contributors to that quirkiness is our plump friend Mr Spall. So maybe the casting director was right, after all."

Tributes were paid to Empress, the Middle White sow used in the show, when she died from what vets believe was a "massive heart attack" just before the final episode was broadcast. Timothy Spall said he was "very upset" at the news.