Episode 1 of series 1, first broadcast on the 22^nd of April 1990.

The episode opens with Bertie in the dock. The magistrate is Sir Watkyn Basset who will feature many times in the series.

Bertie has lunch with Aunt Agatha – "the nephew crusher" – who is worried about the future of the human race. Men like Bertie should be breeding children.

When Bertie arrives at the Drones he finds there is a moose blocking the door. There are also the Wooster twins in the bar. Bertie’s disreputable cousins. We get a brief glimpse of Tuppy Glossop playing that game where you toss playing cards into a top hat. Barmy Fotheringay-Phipps is there too and seems even dopier than you might expect from someone called Barmy. The Wooster twins want to join "The Seekers" – a club in Oxford where you have to pinch something to get elected. Hence the moose.

When he gets to Ditteridge Hall he bumps into his old chum Bingo Little. At the mere mention of Honoria Glossop’s name he goes all peculiar. Bingo is, as Bertie has noted on many occasions, capable of falling in love with anyone. Even – it seems – Honoria Glossop.

Honoria Glossop – "strong and upright and wonderful" according to Bingo, "like a sergeant major" according to Bertie – is the first fatal female we meet in the series. To be fair to her, she doesn’t seem that bad. Though she does invite Daphne into the house with "let me show you some of the things I shot last week".

Bertie lays out the terms of his future relationship with Jeeves.

"I have to make one thing crystal clear. I am not one of those fellows who become absolute slaves to their valets."

Bertie dismisses Jeeves’ concerns at his plan.

"Balderdash, Jeeves. Not to say flapdoodle."

Lady Glossop on how late it is.

"Do you always breakfast at this hour, Mr Wooster?"
"Good heavens no – only if I get up early."

Lady Glossop tries to find out if Bertie is a suitable son in law.

"Do you work, Mr Wooster?"
"I’ve known a few people who’ve worked. Absolutely swain by it, some of them."

Bertie is impressed by Jeeves showing off about etemology.

"You bally well are informed Jeeves – do you know everything?"
"I really don’t know, sir."

When Jeeves hears they are to travel by train he asks which suit Bertie will wear. Bertie says he’ll keep the one he’s wearing now. Jeeves suggests an alternative. Bertie scoffs at him. "Perfectly blithering my dear fellow." We then cut to Bertie at the station...

We open with Bertie in court. He’s charged with stealing a policeman’s helmet on Boat Race Night. The magistrate – who describes Bertie as a parasite – fines him five pounds and sends him away in disgrace. Bertie – who has the hangover from hell – arrives at home and slumps into bed.

He’s woken by the doorbell – a doorbell which will change his life entirely. The agency has sent him a new man. His name is Jeeves.

His first act – apart from apparently miraculously tidying up the flat in his first few seconds – is to mix Bertie the most incredible hangover cure known to humanity. It includes raw eggs, cognac, pepper and cinnamon. Its effects are quite startling.

At lunch with Aunt Agatha, she tells him he must marry at once.

"You want someone strong, self reliant and sensible."
"No I don’t."
"To counteract the deficiencies of your own character."

Luckily, Aunt Agatha has found the perfect girl – Sir Rodderick Glossop’s daughter Honoria. Bertie takes the news badly.

Sir Roderick is a "noted nerve specialist" according to Jeeves. That’s "loony doctor" to you and I.

Having bumped into Bingo and heard his pathetic tale of devotion to Honoria Glossop, Bertie devises a plan. Honoria is devoted to Oswald – her little brother – who spends his days sitting on a bridge fishing. This gives Bertie an idea – what if Oswald were to fall in and Bingo had to rescue him? That would surely impress Honoria, get her and Bingo engaged and Bertie would be off the hook. No wonder he’s in a good mood at dinner, explaining to his hosts that removing a policeman’s helmet is all in the wrist action. The Glossops don't understand and think it must be rather cruel on the policeman. Bertie explains that they like having their helmets stolen - just as foxes enjoy being hunted. This provokes quite a reaction from the Glossops - they dislike foxes. Nasty, cruel beasts. Like cats. Sir Roderick and Lady Glossop have a particular horror of cats.

The following morning he outlines his plan to Jeeves. Jeeves disapproves strongly but Bertie has yet to discover that Jeeves knows best. He then goes down for breakfast and is quizzed by Lady Glossop.

"How would you ever support a wife?"
"It’s depends whose wife it was. A bit of gentle pressure beneath the left elbow when crossing a busy street normally fills the bill."

Honoria arrives with her friend Daphne. They are a classic 1920s butch-femme couple but this is a series without subtexts and undertones. Unless you really look closely with that type of mind.

Lady Glossop breaks the news that she is to marry Bertie. She is appalled.

The time comes for Bertie’s plan to go into action. Sadly for Bertie, he mistakes a dog for Bingo hiding in the bushes and there is no one to save the drowning Oswald no matter how loudly Bertie shouts for help.

In the end Bertie has to dive in and save the lad. Not that Oswald needs saving – Bertie is floundering in the water while he swims safely to the bank but all’s well that ends well.

Except that Honoria thinks this was Bertie trying to impress her and she has discovered a hidden side to him. She will be his wife – and gladly – because now she knows he’s in love with her. He’d have to be to do something so ridiculous in order to impress her.

He’s walking back to the house to get some dry clothes when he bumps into Bingo. It turns out Bingo took one look at Daphne and realised his love for Honoria was a mere passing whim. Daphne is the real thing – a tender goddess. And with a handicap of only six.

Jeeves breaks the bad news while Bertie is having a refreshing bath. Word in the servants’ hall is that Honoria has already announced their engagement.

Some days later, Aunt Agatha lets Bertie in on a slight complication that has arisen. Sir Roderick – being a nerve specialist with a slightly warped view of humanity – wants to satisfy himself that Bertie is entirely normal. Bertie doesn’t realise the staggering good fortune he’s just been presented with an instead takes offence at this apparently insult. Aunt Agatha tells him she’s arranged a dinner party at Bertie’s flat for Sir Roderick and Lady Glossop.

Bertie is to be on his best behaviour because Sir Roderick is a very serious minded man. And he won’t be in a good mood as some yobs have just pinched his top hat.

Meanwhile, the Wooster twins and their chum have gone round to see Bertie to ask if they can leave some things at his flat as their train ins’t until later and they don’t want to be lugging the stuff round all day. One of the twins remarks that Bertie’s last valet used to pinch his socks. If I hadn’t seen that mentioned several times in the books I’d swear it was a clever reference to Blackadder pinching Hugh Laurie’s socks in Blackadder III.

They tell Jeeves that amongst the goodies they’ve pinched are a couple of cats. A light bulb goes off in Jeeves’ enormous brain.

The Glossops arrive for dinner with Bertie determined to prove that he’s not insane. He doesn’t help his case by babbling on in response to a remark Sir Roderick makes about one of his patients thinking he is a canary and then he can’t make up his mind where everyone should sit for dinner.

During the soup, Lady Glossop hears the mewing of a cat. Bertie insists it must be a taxi in the street. But the noise gets louder and louder until Sir Roderick demands an explanation.

"Jeeves – are there any cats in this flat?"
"Only the three in your bedroom, sir."
"What do you mean ‘only the three in your bedroom’?"
"The black one, sir, the tabby and the small lemon coloured animal."

The Glossops run from the flat in terror as Bertie continues to protest that he doesn’t have a cat.

To prove his innocence, Bertie inadvertently releases the cats who race past the terrified Glossops. The final straw comes when Jeeves gives Sir Roderick his hat – the very hat that was stolen earlier in the day. Bertie is baffled by what is happening to him.

The penny finally drops when Rainsby comes round to collect the stolen stuff. Bertie angrily tells him,

"You do realise that the people dining here were my prospective in-laws? And that thanks to you they’ve gone away from here convinced that I’m a certifiable lunatic and determined… (brightens up a little)… that I shall never… (getting happier)… marry… (jubilant)… their daughter!"

Unlike many of the stories, this is surprisingly clear and linear in that we know what is about to happen because it is all laid out in front of us in a nice little line. There are no twists, turns or clever dealing by Jeeves – he’s simply given exactly what he needs and he uses them superbly.

Jeeves’ arrival is dealt with in "Jeeves Takes Charge" (from the collection "Carry On Jeeves").

The messy business with Oswald, Honoria and the bridge comes from "Scoring Off Jeeves" (from "The Inimitable Jeeves")

The dinner party with Sir Roderick (Lady Glossop is an invention for the TV series) is from "Sir Roderick Comes to Lunch" (also from "The Inimitable Jeeves).

While Jeeves is preparing the lemon squash for dinner, Bertie belts out a quick rendition of "Minnie the Moocher". He’s having a bit of trouble with the call and response part of the song – he enlists a reluctant Jeeves to sing "ho di ho di ho" after he (Bertie) has previously sung "ho di ho di ho". Bless him, Jeeves does his best but adding "sir" at the end of every line does play merry hell with the rhythm of the song.

An excellent opening episode which neatly introduces Jeeves, Aunt Agatha, the perils of marriage and the jolly world in which young Bertram resides. It remains faithful - more or less - to the stories it is based upon and weaves three short stories together into one seamless 50 minute episode. Those new inventions - such as Lady Glossop and the business with the singing - are well written and only add to the enjoyment. The series gets off to a superb start and it will get even better after this.