The third episode of the first series of 'Fall & Rise' begins with Reggie at Sunshine Desserts. The model for a new ice cream pagoda has been left on his desk. Unsurprisingly, he hates it. The broken window in his office still needs fixing. A call to the 24 hour maintenance man establishes that he has gone home.
When Elisabeth goes to visit her mother on Sunday, Reggie asks Joan to pop round , on the pretext that 'something has come up'. Once they are alone, he gives her a quick kiss, before apologising profusely. To his amazement, his affectionate gesture is reciprocated. Joan has waited for eight years for him to make the first move.
She meekly leads Reggie upstairs to the spare room ( in a lovely touch, he reverses the picture of the Queen so that it faces the wall ). But before they can get down to it, Reggie has the first of several visitors...
There is something farce like about this episode. Pretty woman in a bedroom, and her would-be lover frantically trying to keep her presence secret. It is still good fun though, with Rossiter's mounting terror at the thought of being caught with Joan hilarious ( listen to how quickly the actor speaks. It is like a machine-gun in full flow, yet every word can be perfectly understood. I know of no other actor - past and present - capable of doing this ). First visitor is Mark, Reggie's out-of-work actor son ( David Warwick ). Mark would only appear in one other episode - 'The Memorial Service' - before being killed off completely. With his long hair, left-wing sloganeering T-shirts, and fondness for Cockney rhyming slang, the character is neither particularly interesting nor amusing. He is also a bit of scrounger, always taking money off his parents. Perhaps David Nobbs decided he was a little too similar to Jimmy.
Speaking of whom, he is here too, and yes, there's been a 'cock-up on the catering front'.
Tom is the last to arrive, smoking what Reggie describes as 'one of those revolting brier pipes', and uses for the first time what became his catchphrase: "I am not a something-or-other person!".
Funniest moment - Reggie nervously awaiting Joan's arrival. Then he notices he has B.O. and goes upstairs to wash. The next time we see him, he is wearing a clean shirt. Sniffing his armpit, he exclaims: "Its getting worse!" and goes off again.
When Elisabeth goes to visit her mother on Sunday, Reggie asks Joan to pop round , on the pretext that 'something has come up'. Once they are alone, he gives her a quick kiss, before apologising profusely. To his amazement, his affectionate gesture is reciprocated. Joan has waited for eight years for him to make the first move.
She meekly leads Reggie upstairs to the spare room ( in a lovely touch, he reverses the picture of the Queen so that it faces the wall ). But before they can get down to it, Reggie has the first of several visitors...
There is something farce like about this episode. Pretty woman in a bedroom, and her would-be lover frantically trying to keep her presence secret. It is still good fun though, with Rossiter's mounting terror at the thought of being caught with Joan hilarious ( listen to how quickly the actor speaks. It is like a machine-gun in full flow, yet every word can be perfectly understood. I know of no other actor - past and present - capable of doing this ). First visitor is Mark, Reggie's out-of-work actor son ( David Warwick ). Mark would only appear in one other episode - 'The Memorial Service' - before being killed off completely. With his long hair, left-wing sloganeering T-shirts, and fondness for Cockney rhyming slang, the character is neither particularly interesting nor amusing. He is also a bit of scrounger, always taking money off his parents. Perhaps David Nobbs decided he was a little too similar to Jimmy.
Speaking of whom, he is here too, and yes, there's been a 'cock-up on the catering front'.
Tom is the last to arrive, smoking what Reggie describes as 'one of those revolting brier pipes', and uses for the first time what became his catchphrase: "I am not a something-or-other person!".
Funniest moment - Reggie nervously awaiting Joan's arrival. Then he notices he has B.O. and goes upstairs to wash. The next time we see him, he is wearing a clean shirt. Sniffing his armpit, he exclaims: "Its getting worse!" and goes off again.
