A member here asked what the difference was between the tv show and the stories. So I put out a call for help, and the estimable
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wotwotleigh delivered, as well as several others. So this is mostly their writing.
General Differences Music:
-In the books, it’s implied that Bertie is a decent singer and an excellent dancer, but he doesn’t play the piano. He’s a one-finger melody picker-outer at best. However it is mentioned that Bertie has a piano, so perhaps he does play. Jeeves wouldn’t allow it if Bertie couldn’t play.
-Which leads me to a more specific difference: the instrument that causes the big breakup in Thank You, Jeeves is a banjolele, not a trombone.
-Also, I don’t think we ever get any indications that Jeeves is musically inclined in the books. He is a good dancer, though. (“swinging a dashed efficient shoe”)
Age difference:
-Jeeves and Bertie in the show are quite close in age. Wodehouse claimed they were anywhere from 11 to 20 years apart, depending on when he was asked.
Relatives:
-Aunt Dahlia and Aunt Agatha both have young sons in the books who are totally omitted in the show iirc. The aunts are probably also younger than depicted in the show, given the ages of their kids.
-Jeeves has some relatives who are left out of the show, like Uncle Charlie and Cousin Queenie the maid. Uncle Charlie is depicted in the Deverill Hall episode, but his relationship to Jeeves is left out.
Rubber ducky:
-Appears exactly the once in the books, doesn’t actually belong to Bertie. It lives in a bathroom at Aunt Dahlia’s country abode.
Animals:
-Bertie has all kinds of hilarious encounters with animals, which are touched on in the show but not fully explored. The swan fight from “Jeeves and the Impending Doom” is sadly omitted, as are most of Bertie’s encounters with cats.
-Book!Bertie is a cat person in a big way, he really loves them. His feelings about dogs are more mixed.
Personalities:
Jeeves:
-Meaner in the books. He has a very dry and snarky sense of humor, and is also perfectly willing to get physically violent if the situation calls for it. There are hints of that in the show, but book!Jeeves comes off as just a little more…. murdery.
-He has a flair for theatrics that’s touched on in both the show and the books, but I wish we’d seen more of it in the show. In Thank You, Jeeves, the one novel in which Bertie doesn’t appear, he disguises himself as a bookie, complete with checked suit and mustache. His cold and vaguely menacing performance as Bertie’s lawyer at the end of Aunts Aren’t Gentlemen when he finally comes to the rescue—*chef’s kiss*
Bertie:
-He’s definitely smarter in the books. Part of that comes through in his narrative voice, which is just so sparkling and clever that you know he can’t be a complete idiot. They also play up a lot of his dumb moments for humor in the TV show. He is a lot dumber in the earlier stories, but he gets more clever, wise, and self-sufficient as the books go along. Increasingly Bertie’s problems stem from external circumstances and his own stubborn adherence to his code as opposed to him just being an idiot.
-Bertie’s also more inclined to be a petty bastard from time to time in the books, and I love that.
-I feel like he has more chances to be brave in the books. He’s prepared to (reluctantly) run into a burning house to save a child. The best part about the burning house is he doesn’t think twice about running in to save his Sinbad costume, but when it comes to a living human child it’s like “oh I suppose I should really…”
He has a bit of a more serious fight with Spode in the books (gets grabbed and escapes by burning Spode’s hand with a cigarette!); and is held at gunpoint, locked in a stable, and even gagged and bound by the bad guys in Aunts Aren’t Gentlemen!
Aunt Dahlia:
-One of the great injustices of the TV show is how the beloved Aunt D’s honor is besmirched, imho. She’s a total scoundrel in the books, too, but when it comes down to it, she’ll do anything for Bertie—including physically get between him and a raging Spode. The show makes her much meaner and less sympathetic, especially in S2.
Honoria:
-Much improved by the show, actually. I like that we get to see more of her as a character in her own right, not just through Bertie’s horrified eyes. Also, she really had it in for Jeeves in the short stories, which was part of the reason Bertie disliked her so much.
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