Reggie Perrin

Any humor was drowned out by the laugh track being monotonous, too early, too loud and breathless. Edit the laugh track or make a version without laugh track available and it should be 9 stars

I wasn't aware that the BBC were making a new Reggie Perrin, so this came as a big surprise, but I am pleased to say a pleasant one and so far after five episodes very enjoyable.

Martin Clunes makes for a very different, but equally entertaining Reggie, with excellent support from Fay Ripley as his wife and Neil Stuke as his new boss, and some great turns from Wendy Craig as Reggie's Mum and Geoffrey Whitehead as his wife's father.

There are many nods to the old series, but it is just as watchable to newcomers and whilst in many aspects a commuters life (train delays etc) is no different to the 1970's (bowler hats aside) has incorporated modern gadgets and business jargon and trends into the show seamlessly.

Lucy Liemann as Jasmine Strauss also adds some excellent support and the target of Reggie's many daydreams! All in all, well worth watching and proving that you can re-make a classic well if you successfully bring it into a modern setting.

Congratulations to the BBC, keep up the good work.

I've watched this with an open mind as a huge fan of the original and tried to appreciate it on it's own merits however I'm not getting into it. I don't dislike it exactly but it just doesn't really have any impact on me at all. The only thing keeping watching I think is the gorgeous and charming Lucy Liemann who plays Jasmine and the very cute and adorable Kerry Howard who plays Vicky, Reggie's dopey secretary. Kerry Howard is the only person in the show who has actually made me laugh.

So what's wrong with it? The story isn't as relevant as it was in the 1970s. Shows like Reggie Perrin, The Good Life and Butterflies all hit a nerve at the time with people. There must have a great deal of dissatisfaction amongst the middle aged suburbanites of the 1970s. I just don't find Martin Clunes dissatisfaction very believable. It seems forced, this is after all a show about Reggie Perrin and so he has to be dissatisfied. In the original you can really feel Reggie's mounting sense of frustration, boredom and insanity. The point about Reggie Perrin is that he is a man who has everything that society says you have to have and yet he is still bored and dissatisfied. He is driven mad by repetition, banality and the total absence of any kind of uncertainty. He has to create danger and uncertainty in order to make himself feel alive again. I don't think anybody in the Britain of 2009 could possibly have the luxury of being driven mad by too much security and certainty. A modern day executive is more likely to be driven to desperation by fear, over work and stress.

The biggest problem I have with it though is that it just isn't that funny. The script isn't very good, the editing is quite poor and the performances are average. Martin Clune's was on a hiding to nothing trying to step into the shoes of a masterful performer like Leonard Rossiter. I've nothing against Martin Clunes, he's a decent enough comedy actor but he's not one of the greats.

It was a brave thing to do and I'm sure they knew they were setting themselves up to be severely criticised, I just wish they had either done it better or not bothered.

Although I'm plenty old enough to have seen the original series' broadcasts, I never saw any. So, I come to this series with no preconceptions.

Martin Clunes is without doubt the standout actor in this series and I felt an increasing empathy with his character as the story unfolded. I really enjoyed his dark sarcasm and flippant attitude towards the world, all whilst trying to hold down a high power job and being oblivious of a failing marriage.

How many of us turn up at an office job wishing they could be farming penguins instead; poor but happy.

The last scene had me in tears, being a bit close to home for me, and was disappointed that this was the last ever episode.

All in all, a hugely enjoyable comedy with plenty of poignant life stories threaded through it.

I was very surprised when I discovered that Reggie Perrin was to be remade, but relieved when I saw that David Nobbs (original author) was co-writing it with Symon Nye (Men Behaving Badly).

Reggie is still having a mid-life crisis and he's still an executive in similar environment (men's grooming products instead of food desserts), and a lot of other characters have been replaced by characters with similar traits and it's all brought up to date with his irritation of the silent commuters, but this time not through the old reasons, but because of omnipresent mobile phones, iPods isolating people and laptops on peoples knees on trains keeping them from interacting with their fellow passengers.

I would like to give this 10 / 10 but because of the original being a perfect 10 in my eyes I am giving it a 9 / 10. Having said this, Martin Clunes is a perfect actor to play Reggie, although a few other character choices seem odd, i.e. Neil Stuke (Game On) as CJ's equivalent character, even though he's not called CJ, but still Reggie's surprisingly 'younger' boss.

This review was written after watching episode 1 (of 6) and expect the remainder of the series to be as good or get even better considering those involved.