The second series of Blandings showed up at the library so I popped round there and took it home. I bunged it into the DVD player and had gander. The 7 episodes were broadcast in February and March of 2014. The series is written by Guy Andrews and directed by Mandie Fletcher and Geoffrey Sax. The setting is Blandings Castle which is played by Crom Castle, near Newtownbutler, in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. It's a great pile with of bricks with turrets and crenellated towers. Perfect for Blandings.
The main cast members from the first series return. Timothy Spall plays Clarence Threepwood, the 9th Earl of Emsworth, Jennifer Saunders plays his sister Lady Constance Keeble and Jack Farthing is Clarence's son The Hon. Frederick Threepwood. Tim Vine replaces Mark Williams as the only intelligent person in the place, the butler Sebastian Beach. Sadly, Empress, the pig in the show died of a massive heartache just before the last show of the series ended. There is talk of a 3rd series so I'm guessing that there will be a new pig playing the Empress Of Blandings. She's the apple of Clarence's eye.
The stories are silly, the dialog hilarious and the actors are all top notch. I can't think of anything more entertaining. Of course, I'm a die-hard PG Wodehouse fan and think it's all a great hoot. Wodehouse has said that he thinks of his stories as musical comedies without the music. All I think is, I laughed a lot. As the DVD box says, it's "very funny", and for once I can agree. It's one of the better adaptations of Wodehouse and right up there with Fry and Laurie's Jeeves and Wooster. I'd also recommend the books, to those that might like them, they're light and breezy. The perfect balm for the weary reader.
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