The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin 

Disillusioned after a long career at Sunshine Desserts, Perrin goes through a mid-life crisis and fakes his own death. Returning in disguise after various attempts at finding a 'new life', ... See full summary »

Stars:

Leonard Rossiter, Pauline Yates, John Barron

7 nominations.

Cast

Complete series cast summary:
Leonard Rossiter	...	Reginald Perrin 21 episodes, 1976-1979
Pauline Yates	...	Elizabeth Perrin 21 episodes, 1976-1979
John Barron	...	C.J. / ... 20 episodes, 1976-1979
Sue Nicholls	...	Joan Greengross 20 episodes, 1976-1979
Trevor Adams	...	Tony Webster 20 episodes, 1976-1979
Bruce Bould	...	David Harris-Jones 20 episodes, 1976-1979
Sally-Jane Spencer	...	Linda Patterson / ... 16 episodes, 1976-1979
John Horsley	...	Doc Morrissey 14 episodes, 1976-1979
Geoffrey Palmer	...	Jimmy Anderson / ... 13 episodes, 1976-1979
Tim Preece	...	Tom Patterson / ... 9 episodes, 1976-1977

Storyline

Disillusioned after a long career at Sunshine Desserts, Perrin goes through a mid-life crisis and fakes his own death. Returning in disguise after various attempts at finding a 'new life', he gets his old job back and finds nothing has changed. He is eventually found out, and in the second series has success with a chain of shops selling useless junk. That becomes so successful that he feels he has created a monster and decides to destroy it. In the third and final series he has a dream of forming a commune which his long suffering colleagues help bring to reality. Unfortunately that also fails and he finds himself back in a job not unlike the one he originally had at Sunshine Desserts.

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Plot Keywords:

sitcom | surrealism | disillusioned | british humour | middle class | 

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Genres:

Comedy

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Details

Official Sites:

Reggie Online

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

8 September 1976 (UK)

Also Known As:

Caída y auge de Reginald Perrin

Filming Locations:

Eldorado Road, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England, UK

Company Credits

Production Co:

British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

30 min (21 episodes)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

Real-life Labour MP (Member of Parliament) John Stonehouse faked his own apparent suicide in exactly the same way as Reginald Perrin - in the summer of 1974 he left his clothes on a beach in Miami and disappeared. However this was pure coincidence: David Nobbs wrote his novel early in 1974, before Stonehouse disappeared (so Nobbs couldn't have based the novel on Stonehouse's disappearance) but the novel wasn't published until 1975, after Stonehouse went missing (so Stonehouse couldn't have got ideas for his disappearance by reading the novel).

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Quotes

[Reggie is awaiting his first customer at his new shop, Grot]
Customer In Shop: Everything in this shop is rubbish, is it?
Reginald Perrin: Absolutely, sir.
Customer In Shop: I see. What's the point of that, then?
Reginald Perrin: Well, we're sold so much rubbish these days under false pretenses, I decided to be honest about it.
Customer In Shop: Ah, you've got a point there. There you have got a point.

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Connections

Featured in Men About the House (2010)

User Reviews

All great humor is grounded in pain

David Nobbs' brilliant satire of modern life features the incomparable Leonard Rossiter as middle-aged, middle-class, middle-manager Reggie Perrin, who longs for a life that is just out of reach. Despite his best (and most bizarre) efforts to break free from the insipid conformity that he sees all around him, he never quite succeeds. Perrin is surrounded by one of the finest and funniest ensembles in the history of British comedy - you'll find most of your friends, family and enemies represented here. As Reggie's fatuous boss (a character that anticipated the Dilbert comic strip by about 20 years) would put it, "I didn't get where I am today without appreciating one of the finest British sitcoms ever." Outstanding writing and hilarious acting make this one of the greats.