Timothy Spall is to star in a new BBC One comedy series based on the celebrated stories by PG Wodehouse.
In Blandings Spall will play the amiable and befuddled Lord Emsworth (Clarence to his friends), opposite Jennifer Saunders as his indomitable sister Connie.
The six part series is being written and executive produced by Guy Andrews (Lost In Austen, Absolute Power). Filming will take place in Northern Ireland with the support of Northern Ireland Screen.
Describing the series , Andrews says: “Blandings Castle is dysfunction junction, the home of a chaotic family struggling to keep itself in order. Clarence Emsworth, ninth earl and master of Blandings Castle, yearns with all his soul to be left in peace; preferably in the company of his beloved pig, The Empress. But he never is.
“There is always someone who wants him to do something. Presiding over the blitzkrieg on his equilibrium is the baleful figure of his sister Connie, with whom he shares the house; at her shoulder is Clarence¹s brainless younger son Freddie and a panoply of friends, enemies, servants, spongers, private detectives, bookies and confidence tricksters.
“Only Beach, his loyal and long-suffering butler, provides consolation. Storm-battered Clarence, somehow never vanquished, occasionally makes everything right through an inspired or accidental intervention.
“For any writer, it is the rarest privilege imaginable to have Wodehouse legitimately available as source material. Instead of just stealing from him as we usually do.”
The series has been commissioned by BBC One Controller Danny Cohen, who said: “PG Wodehouse was a comic master, and we are very excited about bringing his stories to life for a new generation of television viewers.
“I’m sure that the equally brilliant Timothy Spall and Jennifer Saunders will do justice to Wodehouse’s work.”
