Some of the best television to arrive from the United Kingdom, happened in the '70s.  The newly released "WODEHOUSE PLAYHOUSE," from ACORN MEDIA,  is a fine example of this phenomenon.  Fans of "UPSTAIRS DOWNSTAIRS" will be pleased to find the real-life couple from that series, actors John Alderton and Pauline Collins, here again. "WODEHOUSE PLAYHOUSE: SERIES ONE" is comprised of various adaptations from the stories of P.G. Wodehouse, perhaps best known for his stories involving  the characters "JEEVES AND WOOSTER."

This series gives these fine actors to play different characters in each 30 minute episode.  Characters from Wodehouse's popular "Mulliner" family are represented in several episodes by these actors, and while those episodes are quite funny, so are all of them! In perhaps the funniest episode, "Portrait of a Disciplinarian," Mr. Mulliner and his former girlfriend visit and are denigrated by a former nanny, with side-splitting results!

ACORN has presented 7 episodes, "THE TRUTH ABOUT GEORGE," ROMANCE AT DROITGATE SPA," "PORTRAIT OF A DISCIPLINARIAN," UNPLEASANTNESS AT BLUDLEIGH COURT," "THE RISE OF MINNA NORDSTROM," "RODNEY FAILS TO QUALIFY" and "A VOICE FROM THE PAST," over two discs in a boxed set.

The image quality varies greatly, and for a series more than 25 years old, it's generally in good shape.  There are some artifacts, and excessive grain in a few scenes, but others feature great color and resolution.  Fleshtones vary in quality as well.

Although the soundtrack is purported to be stereo, we could only detect a monaural signal throughout, but it's in much better shape than we'd anticipated.  While it doesn't have a wide range in fidelity, there's virtually no background noise, and all of the crucial, witty dialogue is perfectly intelligible, and without distortion.