Review of Fall And Rise Of Reginald Perrin, The: The Complete First Series

Introduction

The fourteen episodes that comprise the two seasons of "The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin" are possibly Leonard Rossiter`s finest (seven) hour(s). If the actor is remembered for anything, it will be his two great comedy characterisations - Reggie, and "Rising Damp"`s Rupert Rigsby. Rigsby was a classic "grotesque", a type beloved of the old school of character actor. Reginald Iolanthe Perrin (RIP) was an everyman - an ordinary working stiff battling against his lot - and in his case ultimately cheating the system. Of the two series, Reggie Perrin has more critical clout. Adapted by David Nobbs from his comedy novels of the same name, the first series of "The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin" is the story of a man stuck in a rut. Reggie is a typical example of British middle-management, working in a failing business (Sunshine Desserts), he is middle aged and mortgaged. His family have grown and left the nest and he is looking forward to the still distant release of retirement. He commutes to work, and every day his train is delayed. He lusts after his secretary, but does nothing about it. His boss is an overbearing idiot given to meaningless aphorisms that always start "I didn`t get where I am today by..." The chairs in his boss`s office fart when you sit in them. His co-workers are completely clueless, and whenever his wife mentions her mother, he hallucinates a hippo trotting past. Reggie is in trouble and he knows it. Then he hatches a plan to stop being Reggie Perrin altogether.

Video

Made on videotape in the late 1970`s, the series is in its original 4:3 framing and slightly washed-out colour reproduction of that era. Picture quality isn`t outstanding, but the DVD presentation is as good as you could hope to get given the age of the material. Having now been digitally remastered, we can but hope that further deterioration of the source material has been halted. The review copy of this disc suffered from some technical problems that will not be seen on the finished production version.

Audio

Presented in the original mono, all the humour of the series is contained in the dialogue, which is clear and crisp. The series was made in the days before actors started mumbling under their breath, so the lack of subtitling is less of an issue than with some shows I can mention.

Features

None. Nada. Zip. Zilch. They are non-existent and in an absolute minority. Any fewer and they`d be in minus figures.

Conclusion

The series was unusual for its time, but technically it`s a `seventies sitcom, so there are a lot of familiar elements that are reviled by today`s televisual trendies. It is possibly that which has kept the series off tv screens since it was made (while inferior shows have been repeated ad nauseam). In spite of this, the show has stood up remarkably well to the passage of time, and is after all, a classic.