Jeeves and Wooster (1990)

“I cannot do with any more education, Jeeves. I was full up years ago!” — Bertie

The animated title sequence to Jeeves and Wooster, the British dramedy that aired on ITV between 1990 and 1993, is all style and swing. Propelled by composer Anne Dudley's sophisticated jazz theme, it introduces audiences to the delightful buffoonery of witless millionaire Bertie Wooster (Hugh Laurie) and his stoic valet Reginald Jeeves (Stephen Fry). Based on P.G. Wodehouse’s clever “Jeeves” stories, the show was a much beloved and lauded period piece lampooning the English elite of the 1920s and 1930s.

Its Art Deco opening, created by animation director Derek W. Hayes and studio Animation City, provided a modern and elegant cornerstone, easing audiences into the rhythm and tone of the show. In the first frame, snaps of colour elongate and divide, forming a genteel group of musicians playing in whirligig motion, strumming and beating and breathing into their instruments with jolly vigour.

Their shapes transpose, spinning in place like great mechanical wheels, into a car, a wine glass, a cocktail shaker. The music is charming and light, exuding luxury as two besuited men laze in large easy chairs. In two shakes they’re replaced by three saxophonists, swaying in time and blowing on sunset-gold horns. Soon, couples are dancing over the credit for P.G. Wodehouse, followed by Clive Exton’s name and a lone piano player. The musicians return to round off the sequence, regrouped and bouncing, nodding to the beat of the airy theme. In 1993, Dudley was nominated for a BAFTA for her original theme music and Hayes won the BAFTA for graphics.

A discussion with Jeeves and Wooster titles animation director DEREK W. HAYES, of Animation City.

Give us a little background on yourself. How did you get into animation, and how did you come to form the studio Animation City?

Derek: I come from a working-class family in the north of England and found early on that I wasn’t much good at anything other than art. Luckily I had supportive parents who were happy to see me go to art school.

While studying sculpture in Sheffield I had a chance meeting with another student, Phil Austin, who turned out to be…

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