Dorothy L Sayers - Lord Peter Wimsey, Gaudy Night (1935) - Part 1

Part 1: Gaudy Night (1935) is a mystery novel by Dorothy L. Sayers, the tenth in her popular series about aristocratic sleuth 'Lord Peter Wimsey', and the third featuring crime writer 'Harriet Vane'.

The Plot: The dons of Harriet Vane's alma mater, Shrewsbury College (a thinly veiled take on Sayers' own Somerville College), have invited her back to attend the much anticipated annual 'Gaudy' celebrations. However, the mood soon turns sour when a malicious lunatic begins defacing the all-female establishment with obscene graffiti, as well as destroying important manuscripts, sending dark messages to several people and crafting vile effigies. Desperate to avoid a possible murder on campus, Harriet asks her old friend Wimsey to investigate.

"Gaudy" derives from the Latin gaudium and Old French gaudie, meaning "merry-making" or "enjoyment". A college gaudy is a dinner; in this case an annual reunion one. The phrase "gaudy night" is taken from Shakespeare's Antony & Cleopatra:

Dorothy L. Sayers (1893-1957)

Dorothy Leigh Sayers (1893-1957) was a renowned English crime writer, poet, playwright, essayist, translator and Christian humanist. She was also a student of classical and modern languags. She is best known for her mysteries, a series of novels and short stories set between World War I and World War II that feature English aristocrat and amateur sleuth Lord Peter Wimsey.

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This Production: Lord Peter Wimsey - Gaudy Night (1987)
Harriet Walter , Edward Petherbridge, Richard Morant, Sheila Burrell, Carol MacReady, Christopher Hodson (Director), Michael Simpson (Director)

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• Dorothy
• Sayers
• Lord
• Peter
• Wimsey
• Gaudy
• Night
• Crime
• Detective
• Mystery
• Novel
• Harriet
• Vane
• Edward
• Petherbridge
• Ian
• Carmichael

[Veritmanor]

Thank you so much for for all these episodes! It is pure happiness to watch them for me!!!

[BaroqueJazzPlays]

@Veritmanor - glad you enjoyed them... hope to get some more clips up soon, still have a number of NC' works to post up....

[Ladyday49]

Can someone explain to me the beginning scene where there is a gunshot then a funeral. What episode is that?

[BaroqueJazzPlays]

@Ladyday49 'Gaudy Night ' is the last episode of the 80's LPW series - as for the gunshot and funeral, it's a tease (clue), you have to work out who got shot, who cried 'No' and why isn't there anyone looking after the grave... no going to say anymore, just have to watch them all... lol

[mllebuttercup]

What a treasure to find these!  Thank you!!

[Setebos]

@BaroqueJazzPlays --- and a lot of that has to do with "Busman's Honeymoon" being my favorite Wimsey mystery. I always enjoy it when a mystery and a romance get tied together, which is one reason Sayers books really take off for me when Harriet Vane arrives.

[BaroqueJazzPlays]

@Setebos and I agree with your view that they missed an opportunity for Petherbridge to do 'Busman's Honeymoon'

[Setebos]

@TheFireHorseUK --- I agree. If I recall, in "Busman's Honeymoon" someone describes Wimsey as a "chattering icicle with a monocle" and, although delivered unkindly, Petherbridge came closer to this than Carmichael.

[GiniaKat]

@Ladyday49 it's part of this episode, in a way... once you've seen the whole thing, you'll probably understand...

[usernamemambypambyla]

I'm finally watching good entertainment. Thanks for the update!