…of Reginald Perrin.
I was just wondering how WWM readers feel about the resurrection of this classic sitcom, with Martin Clunes as the eponymous Perrin?
Apparently David Nobbs has not only given his blessing, but has also co-written the series along with Simon Nye – the fellow who wrote Men Behaving Badly.
A bit of a contrast in quality there.
It’ll be interesting to see how this turns out – either good against all odds or dead on arrival, one suspects.
Clunes in place of Rossiter – can the two even be mentioned in the same breath? Clunes is a decent comic actor and possesses some lovely dogs, but Rossiter was close to genius when it came to his portrayal of the despairing suburban hero. Will the man with the big lips be able to pull this one off?
Your thoughts, WWMers…
Tags: BBC, Entertainment, Leonard Rossiter, Martin Clunes, Reginald Perrin, Sitcom, Television, The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin, TV
Watch With Mothers 
April 21, 2009 at 11:56 am
I can’t even bear to watch it. It’s bound to be horrendous.
April 21, 2009 at 11:58 am
I’m expecting claptrap. People might have forgotten that a few years back Nobbs wrote a series of Reggie Perrin without Reggie in it, and it was deeply unfunny shit. I’m not expecting this to be any better.
April 21, 2009 at 11:59 am
I’ll give it a go but I can’t help but fear it’ll be second-rate. I wasn’t a fan of MBB and David Nobbs isn’t going to be quite as on-the-money as he once was.
April 21, 2009 at 12:00 pm
The Legacy of Reginald Perrin, or something?
Vaguely remember.
Can’t wait for the resurrection of Rising Damp with Matt Horne as Rigsby.
*shoots self in face*
April 21, 2009 at 12:03 pm
I’m expecting this to be as good as Grace & Favour, the revival of The Liver Birds and The First of the Summer Wine.
April 21, 2009 at 12:10 pm
Well as you say, let’s see. Nonetheless I am filled with a certain apprehension as they are never as good as the originals and only show up the fact that there is a lack of original ideas out there.
April 21, 2009 at 12:12 pm
I’d love it to be good – the source material always deserves more fans… but surely it’d be better just to point them at the DVDs of the original? My sister and I both discovered the series when we were prepubsecent and still love it – this new one makes both of us feel uneasy. Also old, but mostly uneasy.
April 21, 2009 at 12:17 pm
I’m not sure it’s a case that there’s no original ideas out there. I think it’s more than nobody can be arsed to go out and find them.
April 21, 2009 at 12:21 pm
Is it on ITV?
April 21, 2009 at 12:23 pm
It’s on the Beeb, Piqued. Surely you’ve seen the adverts? They’re on almost as much as the Ashes To Ashes ones.
April 21, 2009 at 12:35 pm
As you say, Swineshead, Clunes is a very capable actor and, dare I say it, pretty much a national treasure now. I feel dirty for typing that but it’s true.
All I know of the original series is the fact he walks into the sea during the opening titles, like that funny Monty Python sketch, the one that was stolen by Mel Brooks in Men in Tights. I’ll keep an open mind on this.
April 21, 2009 at 12:36 pm
I don’t watch much TV, NC, i-player and movies, maybe the odd Top Gear / Q1 on Dave. I’m old remember
April 21, 2009 at 12:37 pm
Clunes!! National Treasure, oh fuck off
April 21, 2009 at 12:37 pm
How can you use being old as an excuse for that? Surely the opposite would apply?
April 21, 2009 at 12:38 pm
Who said that? Are you my son?
April 21, 2009 at 12:40 pm
It’s true, Piqued. I was as shocked to find out as you.
April 21, 2009 at 12:41 pm
God, I hope not.
Anyway, that would mean you’d sired me when you were six. I know standards have dropped amongst our young folk since the Fifties, but surely not that far?
April 21, 2009 at 12:41 pm
National treasure is going a bit far.
(Possible Friday question in the offing?).
April 21, 2009 at 12:42 pm
Who is a national treasure anyway? I wouldn’t say Clunes was.
April 21, 2009 at 12:47 pm
Of course he is. Take Stephen Fry as the archetypal national treasure. He was given a lovely, hilly drama in Kingdom and he fell flat on his mishapen face. Clunes? Well, he’s raking the money in. You have your joyous remakes of Mr Chips, Doc Martin and, now, Reggie Perrin. Everyone loves it (apart from the cynical WWMs). You have to have national treasure status to do that, surely?
Ant and Dec. National Treasures. Whatever Happened To The Likely Lads? Complete bollocks.
It’s a flawed logic but one i’ll steam ahead with anyway.
April 21, 2009 at 12:48 pm
*pops in*
This is a flatliner already, i think. Cannot fail…
…to be shit.
*pops out again
April 21, 2009 at 12:50 pm
In many ways my argument suggests he’s the national treasure of national treasures.
April 21, 2009 at 12:51 pm
Ignore Dave, he’s claiming Clunes is a ‘National Treasure’ because he’s out of his mind spending all day burping the worm.
NC, I was doing an impression of ‘old folk’. It was a question I was regularly asked by about 50% of the geriatric residents with whom I worked.
Other questions included…
‘whose turned out the lights?’ (she was blind)
‘why are you killing me?’ (I was wiping her bottom)
‘why do I have to lose the other leg?’ (because it was riddled with Gangrene)
‘what would your wife say?’ (she was masturbating with a hair brush)
‘are you my daughter?’ (what the other 50% of residents would ask on account my long hair)
April 21, 2009 at 12:53 pm
They even call him a national treasure on his Wiki page.
April 21, 2009 at 12:56 pm
Clunes isn’t a national treasure.
I’d say Judi Dench is. And Nigel Farrage – head of the UK Independence Party. Ahem.
April 21, 2009 at 12:56 pm
Any cunt can submit a ‘wiki’ entry; most of the entries are un-quantifiable arse
April 21, 2009 at 12:57 pm
We had a couple of wanking types when I did the washing up at a nursing home. Loads of farting types too. And shouters.
April 21, 2009 at 1:00 pm
The old love wanking, old people are fucking disgusting actually
April 21, 2009 at 1:02 pm
I bet Nigel Farrage (head of the UK Independence Party) won’t be disgusting when he’s old.
April 21, 2009 at 1:02 pm
I hated Men Behaving Badly too
April 21, 2009 at 1:03 pm
He won’t get old NC
*slides knife through Nigel Farrage (head of the UK Independence Party) ‘s neck*
April 21, 2009 at 1:06 pm
That’s not a very nice way to treat Nigel Farrage (head of the UK Independence Party).
April 21, 2009 at 1:08 pm
Sorry NC, sorry Nigel Farrage (head of the UK Independence Party).
April 21, 2009 at 1:11 pm
Without Nigel Farrage (head of the UK Independence party), there’ll be nobody to stem the tide of an ever-encroaching European superstate.
Well … apart from Littlejohn and the Tories (The Nazi Party – ©piqued 2007 All Rights Reserved).
April 21, 2009 at 1:12 pm
*pops back in again*
Also, i think Martin Clunes’ bassethound face simply doesn’t suit the kind of panic and sheer contained malevolence that is required in order to do the ppart justice.
*pops out agan, again*
April 21, 2009 at 1:15 pm
They should have picked Mark Addy as the new Reggie. Not for any other reason than I thought he was good in The Full Monty and Red Riding.
How come he’s not used more?
April 21, 2009 at 1:17 pm
He was NC, recently in Red Riding
April 21, 2009 at 1:19 pm
I said Red Riding. Up there. But what else has he been in? I think he’s a good actor being wasted.
April 21, 2009 at 1:21 pm
this reginald fellow looks a bit like swedish (surprise surprise!) national treasure ernst-hugo järegård (http://www.apansson.se/crewbilder/ernsthugo.jpg) of “riket” fame for “abroaders”. maybe there is a national treasure formula when it comes to looks. wikipedia says that w churchill and s fry are national treasures as well. there might be something about their lips…
April 21, 2009 at 1:23 pm
He was in Red Riding quite recently I think. Personally, I can’t help feeling that he’s a good actor being wasted. Wasn’t he in The Full Monty?
April 21, 2009 at 1:23 pm
Why bother rehashing something, it’s so American *sweeps*
I know, what about coming up wioth something original and writing it well??
Eh?
EH!
April 21, 2009 at 1:23 pm
They say Alan Bennett’s a national treasure, but I don’t see it. How can you be a national treasure if all you ever do is bang on about tea cakes and the price of baked beans? My great grandmother used to do that every day, and nobody said she was a national treasure.
April 21, 2009 at 1:25 pm
Come on NC, He wasn’t in Red Riding! Alan Bennet’s a playwrite, of some note too. Actually, I think he’s a National Treasure
April 21, 2009 at 1:25 pm
Dave..antanddec are not national treasures. They are national embarassments.
April 21, 2009 at 1:26 pm
National treasure..David Attenborough. (wins brownie points from Mel).
April 21, 2009 at 1:27 pm
For writing about scones and old women in caravans? I don’t see how that makes you a national treasure. I’ve taken plenty of day-trips to Bradford with ‘our mam’, but wouldn’t expect to gain national treasure status if I laid down such experiences on paper.
He’s how most of my family talk every day of their lives.
April 21, 2009 at 1:30 pm
Let’s face it, Stephen Fry IS a national treasure, no one else is.
Good.
My work has dried up like a Nun’s nasty.
April 21, 2009 at 1:31 pm
I’m torn between watching Reggie Perrin and not watching Reggie Perrin.
April 21, 2009 at 1:33 pm
turn it up, hilarious
April 21, 2009 at 1:34 pm
Stephen Fry probabaly only appeals to the chattering classes at dinner parties.
April 21, 2009 at 1:35 pm
Florent – I like him and, as Piqued will clarify, I’m not dinner party material. Unless it’s monkey-themed.
April 21, 2009 at 1:36 pm
I’m not a dinner party chattering class type Florent and I like the chap
April 21, 2009 at 1:37 pm
…though he knows he way round an Italian menu, Florent, I’m going to back-up his statement
April 21, 2009 at 1:41 pm
Ok..Stephen Fry is Ok, I do not mind him either.
I will put forward Paul Merton. He has a universal appeal.
April 21, 2009 at 1:42 pm
Canned Heat’s on the radio. I like Canned Heat.
April 21, 2009 at 1:46 pm
“I’m not a dinner party chattering class type”
From ‘Piqued’s Big Book Of Lies About Himself’ – available in all good bookshops.
April 21, 2009 at 1:48 pm
I could tell you an interesting fact about “Going up the country” by Canned Heat
April 21, 2009 at 1:49 pm
All this “National Treasure” stuff is rubbish.
What does it actually mean?
Quiet.
April 21, 2009 at 1:50 pm
Nick – What’s this interesting fact, then?
April 21, 2009 at 1:55 pm
‘“I’m not a dinner party chattering class type”
From ‘Piqued’s Big Book Of Lies About Himself’ – available in all good bookshops.’
Very droll. ‘Chattering classes’ implies trustafarian types, never held a dinner party in my life either.
Check out this lucky fucker
April 21, 2009 at 1:55 pm
It’s an old blues tune from the 30’s right down to the little solo. I found it on a compilation of obscure old blues tunes.
Actually, not THAT interesting…
April 21, 2009 at 1:58 pm
Nick..Is the old blues tune on spotify?
April 21, 2009 at 1:58 pm
I always thought the ‘chattering classes’ were left-leaning London types with rectangular glasses, really quite obvious wigs, clothes that were designed to suit teenagers and broken backs?
April 21, 2009 at 2:00 pm
Nick – I didn’t know that.
April 21, 2009 at 2:01 pm
Not sure Dave.
I’ll check the album tonight and let you know what it’s called.
Good tune though.
April 21, 2009 at 2:04 pm
*waits to see how much DINLT likes being called ‘Dave’*
April 21, 2009 at 2:05 pm
Oh yeah.
All these suedanihms
April 21, 2009 at 2:15 pm
afternoon all.
i’ve been in meetings ALL FUCKING DAY in rooms with NO FUCKING WINDOWS and NO CNUTING AIR CONDITIONING.
i am consequently a bit narked.
anyway haven’t seen the old version of this show, we weren’t lucky enough in oz, clearly, during my childhood years. they were filled with Press Gang and Degrassi.
April 21, 2009 at 2:15 pm
No NC, it’s not that I’m afraid.
April 21, 2009 at 2:18 pm
Actually it is surprising that Reggie Perrin was not on in Australia. (I am sure it must have been on at some time).
April 21, 2009 at 2:19 pm
i am sure it must’ve been, just not in my time. or consciousness. if it was shown it will have been on ABC, oz’s answer to BBC without so many annoying indents and a less large budget.
April 21, 2009 at 2:25 pm
The Paul Hogan Show Breeks, Paul Hogan
April 21, 2009 at 2:26 pm
yes, piqued?
April 21, 2009 at 2:26 pm
Paul Hogan
April 21, 2009 at 2:28 pm
They used to show that at about one in the morning on ITV. I can’t remember if it was any good or not.
April 21, 2009 at 2:28 pm
TRaRoRP originaly directed by John Howard Davies who also directed Monty Python and was head of comedy at Thames tv
I need some new facts…..
April 21, 2009 at 2:30 pm
NC, it was bloody worth it for the lady on it what used to supply the ‘phwoars’
Who was she Breeks, who?
April 21, 2009 at 2:33 pm
I see that Stephen Hawking is ill in hospital.
Have they tried turning him off and then back on again…
April 21, 2009 at 2:35 pm
Can’t remember that. Funny, seeing as I can remember every other pair of tits I saw on the telly in my youth (the blonde’s in The Camomile Lawn being a particular favourite). Maybe I’m getting Altzheimer’s?
April 21, 2009 at 2:35 pm
we had this anglo-youth adventure series called “betty’s bunch” when i was a kid/early teenager. anyone who can remember it? i think the antagonist was called “the charmer”.
there was also an australian series about a girl from the future. can’t remember the name of it.
April 21, 2009 at 2:36 pm
“Have they tried turning him off and then back on again…”
I’ve just choked on my coffee. Superb.
April 21, 2009 at 2:38 pm
‘Clunes first marriage was to the actress Lucy Aston. They later divorced after Clunes began a relationship with the television producer Philippa Braithwaite.[22] Braithwaite and Clunes married in 1997.[23] In 1999, Braithwaite gave birth to a daughter, Emily.[24][25] Clunes lives with his family in Beaminster, Dorset.[26] On the 21 April 2009, Martin Clunes was granted National Treasure status by the National Society of Television Heritage.’
Source available upon request.
April 21, 2009 at 2:39 pm
Very good P
April 21, 2009 at 2:40 pm
Who the fuck are the National Society of Television Heritage? We have a public body that decides who’s a national treasure, do we?
April 21, 2009 at 2:40 pm
According to Clunes’s wiki page we do.
April 21, 2009 at 2:41 pm
Oh, I see. 21st April 2009. Bastard, you got me there. I was overcome with rage.
April 21, 2009 at 2:43 pm
It’ll be on wiki forever now as well, because it plays to the vanity of Clunes and his minions.
April 21, 2009 at 2:43 pm
“served”
April 21, 2009 at 2:44 pm
‘The National Society of Television Heritage’
Yes, we’ve all heard of them, Dave. That well know organisation ‘The National Society of Television Heritage’ that we’ve all heard of.
You spent all day trying to find that haven’t you? (in between bouts of blowing your beans)
Heard of the ‘The National Treasure Television Society?’ Well it’s me and I say Fry in, Clunes the rubber-face beaker head is out.
April 21, 2009 at 2:45 pm
Wasn’t Nigel Havers The Charmer?
April 21, 2009 at 2:48 pm
Oh, I just saw the date
*goes a bit red but not red enough to think Dave got one over on me*
April 21, 2009 at 2:48 pm
I put it there Piqued myself. Making me the National Society of Telvision Heritage and the final word on the matter. And your ‘The National Treasure Television Society?’ is frankly laughable. Unless it’s on wiki you’re just not credible.
Clunes remains a national treasure.
April 21, 2009 at 2:50 pm
‘Oh, I just saw the date
*goes a bit red but not red enough to think Dave got one over on me*’
Well today’s not been a total waste then. Plus I got a PB of 7.
April 21, 2009 at 2:55 pm
‘Plus I got a PB of 7’
Does PB stand for Penis Burp
April 21, 2009 at 3:00 pm
What’s with all the wanking? Is it dark already in Scotchland?
April 21, 2009 at 3:01 pm
He got me too.
And, yes, Nigel Havers was The Charmer. They hung him at the end …
April 21, 2009 at 3:04 pm
Surely they hanged him NC
April 21, 2009 at 3:04 pm
It’s probably not a joke I should be going along with, Who, but I weighed it up and thought, hey, it’s not as if I could be held in less regard for pretending I masturbated seven times today in some perverse special Olympics for burping worms.
April 21, 2009 at 3:06 pm
Is it, Piqued? I was never sure of the whole hung / hanged thing m’self. I’ll take your word for it, bitterly and reluctantly.
April 21, 2009 at 3:10 pm
Dave, you would be feared and revered in some countries and indeed, most rugby clubs.
April 21, 2009 at 3:21 pm
Looking at bodyboarding stuff for the summer.
‘citing
April 21, 2009 at 3:23 pm
Why not just go on holiday like normal people, Nick?
April 21, 2009 at 3:24 pm
sorry. was in another meeting.
piqued – was it delvene delaney?
April 21, 2009 at 3:30 pm
according to wiki the charmer was played by a ken blackburn
April 21, 2009 at 3:31 pm
according to wiki Nigel Havers is a cad who thinks all cyclists are bastards
April 21, 2009 at 3:33 pm
Sweet mother of God Breeks, yes
April 21, 2009 at 3:33 pm
according to breeks nigel havers goes to her gym and looks quite old in real life. and has soggy knees.
April 21, 2009 at 3:38 pm
piqued – she went on to be lady-host of the famed gameshow ‘sale of the century’ and married hogan’s best mate.
April 21, 2009 at 3:42 pm
I’ve just been reading about it in tears
April 21, 2009 at 3:42 pm
I will be Naps but I’m planning to go to the beach after work when it gets warmer.
April 21, 2009 at 3:42 pm
she was nice, that delvene.
April 21, 2009 at 3:46 pm
*is walking on Beachy Head sobbing*
April 21, 2009 at 3:48 pm
i’m sure she’d let you lay your fass on her beachy head, piqued. she’s quite old now, she’s probably up for it.
April 21, 2009 at 3:51 pm
*lies broken at bottom of cliff*
April 21, 2009 at 3:52 pm
Still can’t remember her. Did she get her tits out?
April 21, 2009 at 3:56 pm
young delvene – http://images.newsphotos.com.au/images2/Lores/19876129.jpg
old delvene – http://www.theage.com.au/ffximage/2006/02/18/service_03_gallery__269x400.jpg
April 21, 2009 at 3:59 pm
I used to work as a lifeguard at Granville Swim Centre NSW as did Paul Hogan……
April 21, 2009 at 4:04 pm
Unlike both Nick and Paul Hogan, I’ve never worked as a lifeguard at Granville Swim Centre NSW. I have met Nigel Farrage, however.
Nigel Farrage is the leader of the UK Independence Party and I therefore beat both Nick and Paul Hogan using a set of rules I’m not prepared to share with you.
*hides rules*
April 21, 2009 at 4:08 pm
how do you pronounce farrage?
far-rage?
far-raj?
farrige?
silly name.
April 21, 2009 at 4:11 pm
Breeks – Like ‘large’, but with a ‘Fa!’ at the start instead of an ‘L’.
April 21, 2009 at 4:11 pm
stupid name.
April 21, 2009 at 4:11 pm
I doubt NF (coincidence?) has ever saved a life.
*plays by own rules*
*wins*
April 21, 2009 at 4:15 pm
Nick – He’s too busy trying to save the life of this country! And I don’t think the National Front was that bothered about the greedy fingers of an encroaching European superstate. They were the ones that didn’t like black people, weren’t they?
*wins most*
April 21, 2009 at 4:17 pm
Breeks – What do you mean he’s got a stupid name? You can talk! Your name sounds like underpants. “Shit! I’ve gone and shit me shitting breeks!”
See?
Glass houses, stones, etc.
April 21, 2009 at 4:20 pm
yeah but breeks isn’t my real name is it?
no.
*wins infinitely more than anyone else*
April 21, 2009 at 4:22 pm
You only win if you deliberately miss out the bit where you decided to name y’self after some underpants.
*wins a bit more than Breeks wins*
April 21, 2009 at 4:28 pm
i think you’ll find breeks is an old english word for breeches or trousers which are, most definitely, not underpants.
*wins a lot more than naps wins and remains in the lead*
April 21, 2009 at 4:32 pm
That means you’ve still named y’self after something that’s awfully close to a man’s particulars. And anyway, things evolve. What may well have been trouser-type garments in the 17th Century could well have morphed into underpants by the 21st. You know how these things go.
*most definitely wins now for sure*
April 21, 2009 at 4:34 pm
but you named yourself after an offensively short man with many insecurities and bad taste in girlfriends who lost wars with bad grace and sulked out the remainder of his life on a small island where nothing of interest happened. offensively short.
*wins.com infinity*
April 21, 2009 at 4:39 pm
I did indeed. However, he wasn’t a pair of underpants, was he? Alright, he had shit smeared all over him by the Iron Duke in a metaphorical sense, but not in a real-life kind of way like wot your name implies. Your name says you spend your days wrapped around a cock and balls with a sweaty hairy man’s anus out the back. And you know how much men fart and leave big skidders in the bum section. It’s disgusting.
*wins all over the universe forever and ever to the end of time and beyond*
April 21, 2009 at 4:40 pm
in this modern day society girls can wear boy’s clothes so i’m probably actually part of a stylish outfit work by a very clean and highly-underpanted young lady.
*wins more than god won the war against satan, which is really really wins*
April 21, 2009 at 4:41 pm
I have to go to Sainsbury’s, so I’ll throw in something about shitted kecks now – SHITTED KECKS.
*wins, again*
April 21, 2009 at 4:43 pm
ah napoleon, how short you are in so many respects.
*wins properly and finally*
END
April 21, 2009 at 6:59 pm
That was the battle to end all battles.
April 21, 2009 at 7:50 pm
I found it!!!
Bulldoze Blues by Henry Thomas
*WINS!!!!*
April 21, 2009 at 8:53 pm
Busy busy busy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqLnoWISJws
April 22, 2009 at 7:09 am
I’d rather have erstwhile Broon bullshitter and celebrity alcoholic Dom McBride babysit the kids with the drinks cabinet unlocked than watch that tobyjugged kahnt Clunes murder this IMHO.