After seeing the miniseries of Sayers mysteries starring Ian Carmichael as Wimsey, I wasn't sure whether I would enjoy another actor's characterization. The first Petherbridge episode I watched was "Gaudy Night" (even though it is the last of the trilogy) and judging from the first few minutes, I didn't like him. He seemed to be a precious twit at first, and I daresay I'll always find this opening rather a mis-step. But by the end of the story, he had won my affection, and only increased it through the other two.
Wimsey is a gentleman amateur sleuth. Carmichael (who is after all known as a comic actor) emphasizes the gentleman and amateur, full of hearty bonhomie. Petherbridge's Wimsey, on the other hand, is much more reticent, sensitive, even melancholy, while capable of merciless confrontation when he has cornered the villain. Bunter observes that he has a mind like mousetrap. Compare the climactic interview in "Strong Poison" with its counterpart in "The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club." He is first and foremost a man of keen observation and penetrating intelligence, an avid disciple of Sherlock Holmes in his intellectual and emotional makeup as probably in his appearance. Underneath his sometimes frosty persona, however, beats a compassionate heart that doesn't fail to go out to various characters whom society exploits while considering unsavory because... well, just because.
I will recommend and continue to enjoy both series, thankful to be able to do so. The sharply contrasting pictures which two talented actors can paint of a single character only increase the interest.
The Harriet Vane stories lead one to speculate that Dorothy L. Sayers might have put herself into this character, and drawn Wimsey as an imaginary ideal mate. She was herself a pioneer as a sterling academic in a time when many assumed that women were incapable of such a role; and her own marriage, though long and devoted, was far from happy.
Wimsey is a gentleman amateur sleuth. Carmichael (who is after all known as a comic actor) emphasizes the gentleman and amateur, full of hearty bonhomie. Petherbridge's Wimsey, on the other hand, is much more reticent, sensitive, even melancholy, while capable of merciless confrontation when he has cornered the villain. Bunter observes that he has a mind like mousetrap. Compare the climactic interview in "Strong Poison" with its counterpart in "The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club." He is first and foremost a man of keen observation and penetrating intelligence, an avid disciple of Sherlock Holmes in his intellectual and emotional makeup as probably in his appearance. Underneath his sometimes frosty persona, however, beats a compassionate heart that doesn't fail to go out to various characters whom society exploits while considering unsavory because... well, just because.
I will recommend and continue to enjoy both series, thankful to be able to do so. The sharply contrasting pictures which two talented actors can paint of a single character only increase the interest.
The Harriet Vane stories lead one to speculate that Dorothy L. Sayers might have put herself into this character, and drawn Wimsey as an imaginary ideal mate. She was herself a pioneer as a sterling academic in a time when many assumed that women were incapable of such a role; and her own marriage, though long and devoted, was far from happy.