I bet there’ll be something: I got the impression that when Laurie said “retire from TV”, he mostly meant “give up having a full-time TV star career and having to live in Los Angeles and never have time to work on other projects”. If something comes along that he really wants to do, I doubt that he’ll automatically rule it out just because it involves television.
What I want, fifteen or so years down the road when the actors are old enough for it, is a “Jeeves and Wooster”-style BBC series of the Wodehouse “Blandings Castle” novels, with Fry as the Earl of Emsworth and Laurie as his brother Galahad. That is what I want.
Yes, Laurie has said for years that he wants to live in England full-time. I suspect that will allow him to do London-based TV productions, which is fine with me.
Now, now, they did promise a sequel…in summer 3000. Only another 988 years to wait!
There was a “Fry and Laurie Reunited” show a year or so ago, which was a retrospective of their various collaborations. I got the distinct impression that the “Fry and Laurie” ship has sailed - they’re not the people they used to be. Which doesn’t rule out future work together - they’re still good friends, despite Laurie never answering anyone’s emails ever, including Fry’s - but I wouldn’t hold my breath for any more “Fry and Laurie” or indeed “Jeeves and Wooster” shows. Whatever we get, if anything, will be something else.
I’ve always wished that Laurie would redo the Wooster stories without all the violence that Clive Exton did to the canon, like making them into crossdressers or having them jump ship in the middle of the Atlantic, and just the general rejiggering of plotlines.
But, hey, I know that that’s never going to happen.
Yes, I always found the interpolated “slapsticky” material in the “Jeeves and Wooster” episodes the least appealing. But I think that when the show cast its net beyond the canon, it also occasionally dredged up a pearl, like having Bertie play and sing Broadway show tunes, or having Jeeves somewhat taken aback by American democratic mores. Admittedly, it was Jeeves and Wooster in a slightly parallel universe, but sometimes it worked.
Mind you, I want my hypothetical “Blandings Castle” series to stick more closely to canon. (Although even there, I’m prepared to allow a few liberties. For instance, my pilot episode is about how Lord Emsworth meets and acquires the Empress. :))
Another excellent idea, even though I think Edward Petherbridge did quite a good job with the role. (So did Ian Carmichael, back in the day.)
I was a very strong fan until season three or so. The show has since not only jumped the shark, but ceased to be in any manner interesting or creative. The loss of Jennifer Morrison from the cast dealt the show a huge blow.
Actually, Holmes is one of the few well-known characters I don’t really have any urge to see Hugh Laurie play. Perhaps House just ruined that association for me, I’m not sure.
My Hugh Laurie wish list:
[ul]
[li]Galahad Threepwood in my hypothetical “Blandings Castle” BBC series, as noted above. (But he’ll need to be well over 60, so I’m saving this up.)[/li][li]Villains. I mean real villains, not just comic bad guys. Specifically, Henleigh Grandcourt in a film version of George Eliot’s Daniel Deronda, preferably with Emma Thompson as Mrs. Davilow. That needs to happen soon.[/li][li] Commander Samuel Vimes in Discworld “Night Watch” series movies. Somebody needs to start making those, by the way. [/li][li] This is a bit out there, but… James Bond. I guess he should have started earlier, though. [/li][/ul]
That’s all I can think of right now, but there are lots of others. I wish he’d star in a biographical film about a singer and get more blend out of his music and acting, like Joaquin Phoenix in Walk the Line.
