P. G. Wodehouse is most famous for Jeeves and Wooster, a series of humorous novels about a wealthy, likable, and bumbling aristocrat and his intelligent and extremely competent butler. The novels are set in London and New York during the 1920 and 1930s.
In the 1990s, the books were turned into a TV series. Stephen Fry starred as Jeeves, the butler and Hugh Laurie starred as Bertie Wooster, the aristocrat. All four seasons are available here.
Given the lasting success of this series, why haven’t there been any attempts at remaking the series or adapting it for modern audiences?
The humor, while charming, is also antiquated. Cases of mistaken identity and terrifying aunts aren’t considered as hilarious as they once were. Casting is another challenge. There now may be no actors who can do justice to Wodehouse’s novels like Fry and Laurie could.
A more subtle reason is that the characters don’t lend themselves to remakes transposed to the 2020s. It’s easy to imagine Bertie Wooster as a Silicon Valley billionaire who has had a single good idea a few years ago and now lives a life of leisure in a Hillsborough mansion. But what about Jeeves? California billionaires don’t have manservants like the British aristocracy used to. Turning Jeeves into an executive running one of Wooster’s companies wouldn’t work either, since Wooster’s appeal comes from the mismatch between his super-human competence and what he applies it to: Getting Wooster out of silly or embarrassing situations. An executive loyally helping a billionaire out of the messes he got himself into wouldn’t be amusing to anyone.
Here is a discussion of what may have motivated P. G. Wodehouse when he came up with the characters.
Nehaveigur 