| What
were the series
all about?
Reginald
Iolanthe Perrin is a 46-year-old senior sales executive with Sunshine Desserts,
a company that manufactures instant puddings, jellies and ices. He lives
in the London commuter-belt town of Climthorpe with his wife, Elizabeth.
They have two children: Mark, a budding actor, and Linda, who is married
to Tom Patterson. They have two small children, Adam and Jocasta.
The series
revolves around Reggie as he develops a mid-life crisis, and becomes more
and more frustrated at living the life of a commuter in the rat-race, every
day doing the same routine – catching the same train to his office, seeing
the same old faces at work, doing the same things all day, every day in
his poky little office, and catching the same train home again. He feels
that his life is going nowhere fast, and sets out to change that. He starts
to behave eccentrically – writing rude letters, embarking on an affair
with his secretary Joan and giving a drunken speech at a seminar, culminating
in leaving his clothes on a Dorset beach in a faked suicide attempt, and
starting a new life.
However,
he soon misses his wife and eventually returns to the fold and remarries
her. He opens the Grot shop chain selling useless items at inflated prices,
because he feels that “so much rubbish is sold under false pretenses these
days, I decided to be honest about it.” To his amazement, Grot is a huge
success, but he finds himself back in the same old routine as before. After
numerous attempts to destroy Grot, he fakes another suicide – this time
accompanied by his wife Elizabeth.
Having
had enough of business, Reggie then decides to open a community for the
middle-aged and middle class where anyone can learn to be better people.
This, too, is a huge success, until thugs threaten to destroy it and all
the guests leave. In the latest series, “The Legacy…”, Reggie has died
and left his family and friends £1 million each, on the condition
that they earn it by doing something totally absurd. They decide to form
an organisation to reverse the youth culture in today’s society, proposing
young-age pensions, age hostels and so on. They march on London in a bloodless
revolution with the aim of taking over the government. The executor of
the will decides it was a brilliant idea – and therefore not absurd at
all – and refuses to release the money.
On-site Links: Main
page
Why “…Fall
and Rise…” ?
This refers
to Reggie’s mid-life crisis and self-removal from society (his ‘fall’)
and the various projects he sets up (Grot and Perrins community) which
become a huge success (his ‘rise’). In the novels, only the first book
- detailing his life up to his first faked suicide - was called “The Fall
And Rise of…”, the second book – the Grot empire – was called “The Return
Of…” and the Perrins community was detailed in “The Better World Of Reginald
Perrin”.
How
many series were there and when were they broadcast?
There
were three series originally, all of them titled “The Fall And Rise Of
Reginald Perrin”, broadcast in 1976 (from September 8th to October 20th),
1977 (from September 21st to November 2nd) and 1978/9 (from November 29th
to January 24th), respectively. The latest series, “The Legacy Of Reginald
Perrin” was broadcast in 1996 (from September 22nd to October 31st),
making four series in total.
On-site Links: Episode
Guide in Brief
Who
wrote it? Was it adapted from a novel?
David
Nobbs is the creator of all four novels and series. However, only the first
series was published as a novel before being televised. It was originally
titled “The Death Of Reginald Perrin” and was published in 1975 by Victor
Gollancz publishers. The BBC commissioned the pilot, and then the series,
and David wrote the scripts. The second and third series were novelised
in tandem with the series (the novels were known as “The Return Of Reginald
Perrin” and “The Better World Of Reginald Perrin” respectively). Again,
the fourth book “The Legacy Of Reginald Perrin” was published to coincide
with the series.
On-site Links: David
Nobbs – A Biography - The
genesis of Reginald Perrin
Wasn’t there a load of catchphrases
in this series?
Oh yes!
To emphasise the mundaneness of Reggie’s daily life, David Nobbs decided
the characters in Reggie’s environs should have phrases that were uttered
on a regular basis, sometimes ad nauseum. With the laugh-a-line scripts
and fast pace of the action, the phrases tripped out until even the viewer
became almost unaware of them.
C.J.
had probably the most famous catchphrase (and was recently voted one of
the Top 60 catchphrases of all time): “I didn’t get where I am today…”
by whatever the topic of the conversation was. In Series Three and Four
he also used malonyms and malapropisms (mixed proverbs, such as “there’s
no smoke without the worm turning”).
Reggie
himself used to tell Joan how late he was and why, always because of train
delays (For example, “Eleven minutes late, defective bogey at Earlsfield”).
Jimmy
always had “a bit of a cock-up on the catering front” when he’d got no
food to feed his army cadets or family, followed by numerous other cock-ups
as the series progressed.
Tom was
always telling people how he was or wasn’t “a <whatever> person”, such
as “I’m a coffee person” or “I’m not a cricket person”.
And finally
there were C.J.'s two ‘yes’ men: Tony Webster, who’s catchword was “Great!”
and David Harris-Jones who was very fond of saying “Super!”
On-site Links: C.J.-isms
- Reggie’s
train excuses - Minutiae
Off-site Links: BBC
News all-time catchphrases
Wasn’t there an American
version of “...Reginald Perrin”?
Yes.
“Reggie” starred the late Richard Mulligan as Reggie Potter in a series
which was broadcast by ABC in 1983. Essentially similar to the first British
series except that C.J. was a young whizzkid, Reggie worked at the Funtime
Ice Cream Co. and he lusted after his son’s girlfriend.
On-site Links: Related
Productions
Can I still buy
the books? What about the videos?
Yes, all
four books are still available. The first three have recently been published
in a single-volume omnibus by Mandarin. Most Internet bookshops have both
the hardback and softback editions of “The Legacy Of Reginald Perrin”.
At present,
the first three series are available on PAL video, unedited, each in double
video packages. Edited versions of the series were released on videos in
the mid-1980s. These have long-since been deleted, but turn up occasionally
on Internet auctions.
On-site Links: Merchandise |
Who
were the main cast?
Reginald Perrin was played
by Leonard Rossiter.
Leonard Rossiter spent most
of his professional life on stage in theatres around the UK, but he is
most fondly remembered for two of his roles on television. One was Reginald
Perrin, and the other was seedy landlord Rigsby in ‘Rising Damp’. British
viewers will also remember his Cinzano commercials with Joan Collins. A
brilliant character actor – never a comedy actor – he was highly respected
for his professionalism, perfectionism, rate of delivery, and attention
to detail. He starred in numerous TV plays, as well as 'Z Cars’, ‘The Avengers’
and two episodes of ‘Steptoe and Son’. His films included Stanley Kubrick’s
‘Barry Lyndon’ and ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’, plus ‘Le Petomane’, ‘Oliver!’,
‘King Rat’, ‘Luther’ and ‘Water’. He died of a heart attack in 1984, aged
57.
On-site Links: Biographies
of main actors
Off-site Links: Leonard
Rossiter – His Life And Career
Elizabeth Perrin was played
by Pauline Yates.
Pauline Yates was born in
St. Helens, Merseyside. She started her acting career at Oldham Repertory
Theatre at the age of seventeen. She has appeared in many television series
including ‘Crown Court’ and ‘Armchair Theatre’, and recently partnered
Richard ‘Victor Meldrew’ Wilson in a commercial for Abbey National Building
Society.
On-site Links: Biographies
of main actors
Jimmy Anderson was played
by Geoffrey Palmer.
Geoffrey Palmer was born
in London. After completing his national service he worked in an exports
office and an accountancy before joining an amateur dramatics society.
He became assistant stage manager at the Q Theatre in London, before moving
to Croydon Theatre and touring. He then moved into TV with bit parts in
the comedy shows of Arthur Askey, Harry Worth and Jimmy James among others.
He is fondly remembered for ‘Butterflies’ with Wendy Craig and ‘As Time
Goes By’ with Dame Judi Dench.
On-site Links: Biographies
of main actors
C.J. (Charles Jefferson)
was played by John Barron.
John Barron was born in
1920 and first went into acting after training with RADA from 1938. He
spent many years in repertory theatre before his first television performance
for the BBC in 1948. He appeared regularly in 'Emergency Ward 10', ‘Softly,
Softly’, ‘Whoops Apocalypse’ and occasional roles in ‘To The Manor Born’
and ‘Don’t Wait Up’. He considers C.J. as the highlight of his career.
On-site Links: Biographies
of main actors
Joan Greengross was played
by Sue Nicholls.
Born in Walsall, West Midlands,
the daughter of Lord Harmar Nicholls, she trained in RADA for two years
as an assistant stage manager. Her TV debut came in the soap opera ‘Crossroads’
in 1964. She had a Top 20 hit single in 1968 called ‘Where Will You Be?’
Her other TV roles include ‘The Professionals’, ‘Rentaghost’, and ‘Dixon
of Dock Green’. She is now a central character, Councillor Audrey Roberts,
in the long-running soap ‘Coronation Street’.
On-site Links: Biographies
of main actors
Linda Patterson was played
by Sally-Jane Spencer.
Sally-Jane was born in Buckinghamshire.
After training at drama school she took the unusual step of making her
debut performance on the West End stage in ‘The Prime Of Miss Jean Brodie’.
She then continued in theatre roles before leving the industry to raise
a family. She has a son and a daughter, both teenagers.
On-site Links: Biographies
of main actors
Tom Patterson was played
by Tim Preece (Series 1,2 & 4) and Leslie Schofield (Series 3).
Tim Preece was born in Shropshire.
After treading the boards in school plays, he entered theatre professionally
playing Whitby, Bristol, Salisbury and Farnham repertory theatres, before
bit-parts in comedy shows. More regularly he has appeared in ‘Waiting For
God’, ‘Just William’ and ‘Porterhouse Blue’.
On-site Links: Biographies
of main actors
Leslie Schofield was born
in Oldham. His first taste of acting came during ten years service in the
Fleet Air Arm of the Royal Navy. He continued acting in civvy street, and
has appeared in ‘The Gentle Touch’ and ‘Spoils Of War’. He currently plays
Jeff Healy in the BBC soap Eastenders.
On-site Links: Biographies
of main actors
Gerald ‘Doc’ Morrissey
was played by John Horsley.
John was born in Essex in
1920 and made his acting debut at the Theatre Royal, Bournemouth. He served
in Italy during the war, then appeared in numerous films including ‘Ben
Hur’, ‘Sink The Bismarck!’, and ‘Dunkirk’. His TV appearances included
‘Dempsey & Makepeace’, ‘Z Cars’, ‘Softly, Softly’ and ‘You Rang M’Lord’
for several series.
On-site Links: Biographies
of main actors
Tony Webster was played
by Trevor Adams.
Trevor trained with RADA
and was a member of the National Youth Theatre before turning to television.
He has appeared in programmes including ‘Fawlty Towers’, 'Dixon Of Dock
Green' and 'The Professionals'. In 1982 he quit acting for a career in
law, which lasted twelve years. He has now returned to acting.
On-site Links: Biographies
of main actors
David Harris-Jones was
played by Bruce Bould.
Born in Bradford to actor
parents, Bruce began his own acting career aged seventeen at the Birmingham
Repertory, before joining RADA. His first television role was in the BBC
sitcom 'The Good Life', and has also appeared in 'To The Manor Born', 'Shelley',
and 'Drop The Dead Donkey'. He is married to Theresa Watson who played
his wife Prue in Series Three and Four.
On-site Links: Biographies
of main actors
Didn't someone
famous "do a Reggie Perrin" ?
Sort of,
although he was not influenced by the novel or TV series. John Stonehouse
was a British Member of Parliament in Harold Wilson's cabinet in 1970,
serving in the position of Postmaster General. The Labour Party lost the
1970 General Election, and Stonehouse was sacked. He aspired to make himself
a millionaire and set up numerous companies. One by one they failed and,
together with fraudulent business deals and trying to keep his affair with
his secretary a secret, his problems piled up until, in mid-1974, he faked
his suicide by leaving his clothes on a Miami beach, and fled to Australia
in disguise and on a false passport. The Australian police eventually caught
up with him in Denmark, and after the longest fraud trial in UK legal history
he was found guilty on 18 charges of fraud and theft, and served five years
of a seven year sentence. He died of a heart attack in 1988.
Note:
Contrary to popular belief, John Stonehouse did not "do a Reggie
Perrin". David Nobbs
had written the novel before Stonehouse
faked his suicide in the summer of 1974, but the novel was not published
until 1975. So David
did not use details of the incident in
his book, and Stonehouse
did not - could not - have
copied Reginald Perrin. It was all simply - yet staggeringly - a complete
coincidence. (However, other people since the novels' publication have
"done a Reggie Perrin", for whatever reason they feel their lives dictate).
See the link below for details.
On-site Links: - John
Stonehouse story |