Blandings: Series 1

Bowing on the BBC at the beginning of this year, Blandings is adapted from the perennially popular “Blandings Castle” stories by P.G. Wodehouse, the venerable dean of fictional British wit. Wodehouse wrote the Blandings stories from 1915 until his death (at age 92) in 1975, guaranteeing a stockpile of material for future episodes, which is great news for fans of this series, blessed as it is by the casting of Timothy Spall (“Wormtail” in the Harry Potter films) as the pleasantly plump Lord Clarence Threepwood, 9th Earl of Emsworth, and Jennifer Saunders as his snooty sister, Constance. The pair live in the slightly shabby Blandings Castle, where Clarence simply wishes to enjoy his leisurely lifestyle in peace, but Constance exhibits disapproval and delivers constant threats of violence, typically involving the unconventional use of eating utensils. They share the castle with a constant flow of friends, family, and staff, including their seasoned butler, Beach (Mark Williams), and Clarence's bumbling idiot of a son, Freddie (Jack Farthing), who is on the lookout for his next girlfriend while crashing cars into the same tree with alarming frequency. Despite ample screen time devoted to Clarence's prized show-pig, the prodigiously flatulent “Empress,” Blandings is ultimately more amusing than laugh-out-loud funny, and Wodehouse purists have complained about the casting, too-broad humor (compared to Wodehouse's trademark subtlety), and liberties taken with the stories. But this is still an appealing family-friendly series (porcine fart jokes notwithstanding) that combines rapid-fire dialogue, slapstick, and sight gags. Compiling all six episodes from the debut season, this is recommended. (J. Shannon)