Lord Peter Wimsey - The Unpleasantness At The Bellona Club [1973]

Those for whom this series forms hazy memories of childhood might be surprised at its somewhat stagy, lingering interior shots, the spartan paucity of music, the miserly attitude towards locations, especially foreign ones, and the rather genteel, leisurely pace of these programmes, besides which Inspector Morse seems like Quentin Tarantino in comparison. It seems that initially the BBC was reluctant to commission the series and ventured on production with a wary eye on the budget. The Britain depicted by Sayers is, by and large, populated by either the upper classes or heavily accented, rum-do-and-no-mistake lower orders, which some might find consoling. However, the acting is generally excellent and the murder mysteries are sophisticated parlour games, the televisual equivalent of a good, absorbing jigsaw puzzle.

There were five feature-length adaptations in all. "The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club" sees Wimsey investigate the somewhat fishy death of a general, whose demise prompts the distribution of an enormous inheritance. --David Stubbs

We are introduced to the Bellona club were young Captain George Fentiman (John Quentin) and Lord Peter Wimsey (Ian Carmichael) two war survivors are talking a little too loud about General Fentiman (Ralph Truman), Georges grandfather. General Fentiman is not responding and for good reason he is dead. Upon further investigation we find that the general's sister Lady Dormer has also died the very same day. Poor George will only inherit 2000 pounds. However who gets the lion's share of the estate all hinges on who died first. Lord peter as a friend and a snoopy armature sleuth must ascertain the answer and if there is foul play the perpetrator. In any case this is a most unpleasantness at the Bellona Club.

I think sometime these programs are made for those that have already read the book because you can not put everything from the book into the series the highlights and major information is all there but some of the how they got to the information is missing in obvious gaps. Still the essence is captures quite well.


A wonderful production.   October 31, 2000
 10 out of 11 found this review helpful

I adored Ian Carmichael's portrayal of Lord Peter Wimsey when I saw him as a girl when the series originally aired on the TV and time has only enhanced my opinion. The production is fairly faithful to the book and all the characters are well portrayed. A must for Wimsey fans and indeed Ian Carmichael fans.