It starts with a pair of trousers—or rather, the lack of them. Paul Pennyfeather, a man so bland he makes beige look like neon, is running through an Oxford quad. He is naked from the waist down. The Bollinger Club, a group of upper-class thugs with more money than sense, has decided this is peak comedy. But in the world of the Decline and Fall TV series, the victim is always the one who pays. Oxford doesn't expel the rich drunks; it expels Paul for "indecent behavior."
Honestly, it’s a brutal way to start a comedy.
When the BBC finally adapted Evelyn Waugh’s debut novel in 2017, purists were nervous. Waugh is famously "unadaptable" because his humor isn't about what happens; it’s about how he describes it. It is all in the adjectives. Yet, this three-part miniseries managed to capture that specific brand of 1920s nihilism that makes you laugh while feeling slightly sick.
Why the Casting Worked (Against All Odds)
You’ve probably seen Jack Whitehall in Bad Education. He usually plays the loud, posh idiot. Here, he does the opposite. As Paul Pennyfeather, he is the "still point of the turning world." He is the blank canvas on which everyone else paints their madness. He’s a theology student who basically wanders into a series of disasters because he’s too polite to say no.
Then there is Eva Longoria.
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Yes, the Desperate Housewives star in a gritty, satirical British period drama. It sounds like a disaster on paper. But she plays Margot Beste-Chetwynde—a wealthy, alluring, and deeply amoral socialite—with a predatory grace that works. She treats Paul like a shiny new toy. She is the catalyst for his second "fall," leading him from the depressing classrooms of Wales to the high-stakes world of international sex trafficking (which he, being Paul, doesn't realize he's joining until he's already in prison).
David Suchet is here too. Forget Poirot. As Dr. Fagan, the headmaster of the abysmal Llanabba Castle school, he is a masterpiece of cynical incompetence. He doesn't care about education. He cares about appearance and making sure the parents’ checks clear.
The Llanabba Nightmare
Most of the Decline and Fall TV series takes place in a crumbling Welsh boarding school. It’s a "rubbish" school, to put it mildly. The staff is a collection of human shipwrecks.
- Captain Grimes: A man who is perpetually "in the soup." He’s a bigamist, a drunk, and probably a few other things that would get him canceled today. Douglas Hodge plays him with a peg-leg and a permanent squint that suggests he’s always looking for the nearest exit.
- Prendergast: A former clergyman who lost his faith because he couldn't wrap his head around why God would allow things like... well, everything. Vincent Franklin plays him with a twitchy, nervous energy that makes his eventual "Sports Day" accident feel inevitable.
- Philbrick: The butler/porter played by Stephen Graham. He spends the entire series telling tall tales about being a master criminal or a long-lost aristocrat. You never know if he’s a genius or a lunatic.
The Sports Day episode is where the show really hits its stride. It’s a chaotic mess of champagne, accidental shootings (poor Tangent), and blatant racism that the show handles by leaning into the absurdity. It doesn't apologize for Waugh's 1928 worldview; it holds it up to the light to show how grotesque it is.
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Is It Better Than the Book?
Short answer: No. Long answer: It’s a "companion piece."
The book relies on Waugh’s narrator, who has a voice like a poisoned dart. You can't really put a narrator's internal monologue on screen without it getting clunky. So, director Guillem Morales and writer James Wood focused on the visual irony. They used Welsh locations like Cyfarthfa Castle and Atlantic College to create a world that looks beautiful but feels hollow.
Filming in South Wales gave the show a damp, foggy atmosphere that perfectly matched the "decline" part of the title. The contrast between the lush green hills and the miserable lives of the teachers is pure Waugh.
One thing the series gets right is the ending. It brings Paul back to where he started, but with a "heavy moustache" and a fake identity. He’s dead to the world, literally. He has to pretend to be his own cousin just to finish his degree. It’s a cynical loop. It suggests that in British society, you can survive anything as long as you're willing to lie about who you are.
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What Most People Get Wrong About the Series
A lot of viewers expected a cozy period drama. They saw the 1920s costumes and the Oxford setting and thought they were getting Downton Abbey. They weren't.
This isn't a "brave hero overcomes obstacles" story. Paul doesn't grow. He doesn't learn a lesson. He just survives. The world of Decline and Fall is a circus where the tents are on fire and the lions are eating the clowns. If you go into it expecting warmth, you’ll be disappointed. But if you want to see a man get sent to prison for a crime he didn't understand, only to be "resurrected" by a corrupt government minister because his ex-fiancée married into the cabinet... then this is for you.
Actionable Takeaways for Fans
If you've finished the three episodes and want more, don't just stop at the credits.
- Read the 1928 Novel: The TV show cuts a lot of the biting social commentary regarding the prison system in the final act. Waugh’s description of the "Lucas-Dockery" prison reform is some of the funniest writing in English literature.
- Watch 'Rev': Since James Wood wrote the adaptation, his other show Rev (starring Tom Hollander) shares that same DNA of "decent man crushed by an indifferent institution."
- Check the Locations: If you’re ever in Cardiff, visit the Glamorgan Building. It stood in for the Oxford interiors and still has that "intimidatingly posh" vibe.
The Decline and Fall TV series is a rare beast. It’s a high-budget comedy that isn't afraid to be mean. It captures the exact moment when the British Empire started to realize the party was over, but everyone decided to keep drinking anyway. It’s short, sharp, and deeply cynical. Just like the book.