In the latest episode of the ITV sitcom Vicious, starring Derek Jacobi and Ian McKellen as a elderly gay couple, Evelyn Waugh makes an appearance. In this episode (No. 4 of the current series) the couple are contemplating marriage after being together for over 50 years. The wedding planner asks Stuart (played by Jacobi) for his ideas about the scope of the event. Stuart responds that he is thinking, “Summer meets Evelyn Waugh meets Paris in the twenties,” no doubt having in mind the parties described in Vile Bodies, or perhaps in the early pages of Brideshead Revisited. Shortly thereafter (spoiler alert) Stuart learns that his companion Freddie (an actor played by McKellen) has failed to land an important part that would have produced the income needed to pay for an event that would have fulfilled Stuart’s Wavian expectations. The episode can be viewed online on itvPlayer. A proxy server connection is needed outside the UK. The first series of this program was also broadcast in the U.S. by some PBS stations and was issued on DVD, so this current series may also become available from those sources.
