To celebrate my 1,800th review for IMDb I turn to one of my favourite television programmes. "The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin" is sometimes regarded as a sitcom, although it is really an adaption for television of a series of novels written by David Nobbs. A novel, and any television series adapted from it, needs a definite beginning, a middle and an end, whereas a sitcom does not. Each episode of a sitcom is generally a self-contained story in itself, and there is, in theory, no limit to the number of episodes which can be made. Some successful sitcoms, such as "Only Fools and Horses" or "Last of the Summer Wine", have run for years or even decades; when such runs eventually come to an end it is because the programme is no longer popular with the viewers or because some essential actor or writer is no longer available. "Reginald Perrin" does, however, have some features in common with sitcoms, such as the classic middle-class suburban family setting and the fact that each episode only lasts for around half an hour. (At this period most literary adaptations were made using longer episodes of 45 minutes or an hour).
In this review I will only deal with the first series, based upon Nobbs's original novel, "The Death of Reginald Perrin", later retitled to match the title of the programme. (I hope to deal with the other two series in subsequent reviews). The title character is a middle-aged business executive who commutes every day from his comfortable suburban home to his job at Sunshine Desserts. Outwardly, Reggie seems a typically prosperous member of the British middle class of the seventies, but beneath an outer veneer of bourgeois conformity he is deeply dissatisfied with life. He hates his job, which he sees as boring and pointless, and his boss CJ, whom he sees (with reason) as a tyrannical bully. He is irritated by petty frustrations, such as the fact that his train is persistently late every morning (with a different excuse being supplied by British Rail each time). Even though his wife Elizabeth is kind-hearted, affectionate and attractive, he is even dissatisfied with his marriage and fantasises about an affair with his secretary, Joan. Eventually he comes to the conclusion that the only way out of his predicament will be to fake his own suicide and start life afresh under a new identity.
The programme became almost an instant classic when first broadcast in 1976, partly because of the writing- Nobbs himself adapted his novel for television- and partly because of the acting. Leonard Rossiter was already well-known to television audiences following his role as the seedy landlord Rigsby in the sitcom "Rising Damp", but "Reggie Perrin" established him as one of the stars of the British acting profession. (It was, sadly, not a position he was to enjoy for long, as he died at the height of his fame in 1984). Reggie was in many ways a difficult character to play. Although he can be appallingly rude and can cause great pain to those close to him, he is not a "sacred monster" like, say, Johnny Speight's Alf Garnett from "Till Death Do Us Part", a comical but unsympathetic character created for the audience to laugh at. Reggie must not only be someone who we can laugh at, but also someone we can laugh with, even sympathise with, and Rossiter succeeds brilliantly in this task.
Rossiter received excellent support from his supporting cast. Apart from perhaps "Dad's Army", the programme gave us more memorable characters than any other British comedy show of the period and, as in "Dad's Army", many of those characters had their own recognisable catchphrases. Among the outstanding contributions are those from John Barron as the pompous, domineering CJ ("I didn't get where I am today by..."), Trevor Adams and Bruce Bould as Reggie's subordinates the go-getting but insensitive Tony ("Great!") and the limp-wristed, wet-behind-the-ears David ("Super!"), Sue Nicholls as the prim-but-sexy Joan, Geoffrey Palmer as Elizabeth's chronically disorganised army officer brother Jimmy ("Bit of a cock-up on the catering front") and Tim Preece as Reggie's bearded, priggishly liberal son-in-law Tom (I'm a something-or-other person!")
Special mention must go to Pauline Yates as Elizabeth, who remains devoted to Reggie even though she cannot understand what he is going through. Elizabeth's catch-phrase is "Have a nice day at the office, darling", to which Reggie inevitably replies "I won't". One character who is mentioned al lot but never seen is Elizabeth's mother. Every time she is mentioned we see a shot of a waddling hippopotamus, which is how Reggie, who evidently dislikes her, visualises her.
Nobbs's writing is brilliantly comic with some great set pieces- the office exchanges between Reggie and CJ, the trip to the safari park, Reggie's attempt to seduce Joan, constantly frustrated by the arrival of unexpected visitors and that memorial service with its excruciating sermon based on the text "Here are the gumboots you ordered, madam". Yet there is more than just humour in the writing. Reginald Iolanthe Perrin is more than just a figure of fun. He becomes an everyman for the 1970s and a symbol of the malaise which seemed to afflict Britain during that economically depressed decade. The programme may be a comedy, and some of the darker scenes in Nobbs's novel may have been excised, but there is still an underlying vein of tragedy. 10/10
In this review I will only deal with the first series, based upon Nobbs's original novel, "The Death of Reginald Perrin", later retitled to match the title of the programme. (I hope to deal with the other two series in subsequent reviews). The title character is a middle-aged business executive who commutes every day from his comfortable suburban home to his job at Sunshine Desserts. Outwardly, Reggie seems a typically prosperous member of the British middle class of the seventies, but beneath an outer veneer of bourgeois conformity he is deeply dissatisfied with life. He hates his job, which he sees as boring and pointless, and his boss CJ, whom he sees (with reason) as a tyrannical bully. He is irritated by petty frustrations, such as the fact that his train is persistently late every morning (with a different excuse being supplied by British Rail each time). Even though his wife Elizabeth is kind-hearted, affectionate and attractive, he is even dissatisfied with his marriage and fantasises about an affair with his secretary, Joan. Eventually he comes to the conclusion that the only way out of his predicament will be to fake his own suicide and start life afresh under a new identity.
The programme became almost an instant classic when first broadcast in 1976, partly because of the writing- Nobbs himself adapted his novel for television- and partly because of the acting. Leonard Rossiter was already well-known to television audiences following his role as the seedy landlord Rigsby in the sitcom "Rising Damp", but "Reggie Perrin" established him as one of the stars of the British acting profession. (It was, sadly, not a position he was to enjoy for long, as he died at the height of his fame in 1984). Reggie was in many ways a difficult character to play. Although he can be appallingly rude and can cause great pain to those close to him, he is not a "sacred monster" like, say, Johnny Speight's Alf Garnett from "Till Death Do Us Part", a comical but unsympathetic character created for the audience to laugh at. Reggie must not only be someone who we can laugh at, but also someone we can laugh with, even sympathise with, and Rossiter succeeds brilliantly in this task.
Rossiter received excellent support from his supporting cast. Apart from perhaps "Dad's Army", the programme gave us more memorable characters than any other British comedy show of the period and, as in "Dad's Army", many of those characters had their own recognisable catchphrases. Among the outstanding contributions are those from John Barron as the pompous, domineering CJ ("I didn't get where I am today by..."), Trevor Adams and Bruce Bould as Reggie's subordinates the go-getting but insensitive Tony ("Great!") and the limp-wristed, wet-behind-the-ears David ("Super!"), Sue Nicholls as the prim-but-sexy Joan, Geoffrey Palmer as Elizabeth's chronically disorganised army officer brother Jimmy ("Bit of a cock-up on the catering front") and Tim Preece as Reggie's bearded, priggishly liberal son-in-law Tom (I'm a something-or-other person!")
Special mention must go to Pauline Yates as Elizabeth, who remains devoted to Reggie even though she cannot understand what he is going through. Elizabeth's catch-phrase is "Have a nice day at the office, darling", to which Reggie inevitably replies "I won't". One character who is mentioned al lot but never seen is Elizabeth's mother. Every time she is mentioned we see a shot of a waddling hippopotamus, which is how Reggie, who evidently dislikes her, visualises her.
Nobbs's writing is brilliantly comic with some great set pieces- the office exchanges between Reggie and CJ, the trip to the safari park, Reggie's attempt to seduce Joan, constantly frustrated by the arrival of unexpected visitors and that memorial service with its excruciating sermon based on the text "Here are the gumboots you ordered, madam". Yet there is more than just humour in the writing. Reginald Iolanthe Perrin is more than just a figure of fun. He becomes an everyman for the 1970s and a symbol of the malaise which seemed to afflict Britain during that economically depressed decade. The programme may be a comedy, and some of the darker scenes in Nobbs's novel may have been excised, but there is still an underlying vein of tragedy. 10/10