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Amazon.co.uk Review
Boasting a virtuoso comic performance from Leonard Rossiter The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin (1976-79) remains one of the greatest of all television sitcoms. Writer David Nobbs combined the surrealist absurdity of Monty Python with an on-going story line that unfolded through each of the three seasons with a clear beginning, middle and end; a ground-breaking development in 70s TV comedy. The first and best season charts middle-aged, middle-management executive Reginald Perrin as he breaks-down under the stress of middle-class life until he informs the world that half the parking meters in London have Dutch Parking Meter Disease. He fakes suicide and returns to court his wife Elizabeth (Pauline Yates) in disguise, a plot development that formed the entire basis of Mrs Doubtfire (1993). Series Two is broader, the rapid-fire dialogue still razor sharp and loaded with caustic wit and ingenious silliness, as a now sane Reggie takes on the madness of the business world by opening a chain of shops selling rubbish. The third season, set in a health farm, is routine, the edge blunted by routine sitcom conventions. At its best The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin is hilarious and moving, its depiction of English middle-class life spot on, its satire prophetic. Reggie's visual fantasies hark back to The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (1947) and Billy Liar (1963), and look forward to Ally McBeal (1997-2002) and are the icing on the cake of a fine, original and highly imaginative show.
On the DVD: Reginald Perrin's discs contain one complete seven episode season. There are no extras. The sound is good mono and the 4:3 picture is generally fine, though some of the exterior shot-on-film scenes have deteriorated and there are occasional signs of minor damage to the original video masters. Even so, for a 1970s sitcom shot on video the picture is excellent and far superior to the original broadcasts. --Gary S Dalkin
Special Features
English
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Region 0
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
21 of 21 people found the following review helpful
Format:VHS Tape
"When Reginald Iolanthe Perrin set out for work on the Thursday morning, he had no intention of calling his mother in-law a hippopotamus". Yet that's exactly what he did do - and when the book was adapted for TV by the BBC in 1976, Reggie's visions of that waddling, mud-caked hippo created one of TV's funniest images. On that level alone, the show is great comic entertainment - but there's so much more to enjoy besides. The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin is a situation comedy with a difference. The situation is that of a tired, middle-aged executive who, feeling suffocated by his repetitive commuter lifestyle, decides he wants out; the comedy comes from his attempts to actually do so. But this isn't just a series of half-baked plots - it's a continuing serial which follows every trial and tribulation of our anti-hero as he slowly descends into madness, then makes the one bid for freedom which might just save his sanity. And it's this satirical element that elevates Perrin from mere half-hour laugh-fest to poignant comedy drama; just as Reggie tries to prove there is more to life, the programme proves there is more to comedy than an endless stream of gags. We travel every step of the way with Reggie, feeling his frustration; celebrating when he breaks free; and empathising when he finally discovers that the grass isn't always greener on the other side.
The late, great Leonard Rossiter stars as Reggie, a role a million miles away from his most famous character - Rising Damp's lecherous landlord Rigsby - but every bit as memorable. The rest of the characters are somewhat more caricatured, from domineering boss, sexy secretary and stammering, sycophantic colleague, through to understanding wife, hippie son-in-law and scrounging brother-in-law. Yet this is not a criticism - they're played as caricatures because that's precisely what they are, with their catchphrases and repetitive behaviour only serving to heighten Reggie's sense of suffocation.
The success of the show led to two further series, in which Reggie tried different ways to put two fingers up to the world. There was also a spin-off, Fairly Secret Army, starring Geoffrey Palmer, and a dire American version with Soap star Richard Mulligan in the title role. But perhaps most poignant was the fourth series, The Legacy of Reginald Perrin, which aired in Britain just a few years ago and reunited all the original cast with one notable exception: Reggie himself. Sadly, Leonard Rossiter died in 1984, and another actor taking over the character was unthinkable, so here his family, friends and colleagues gathered to carry out the conditions of his last will and testament. The book was a joy as, despite Reggie's absence, his spirit lived on through the others; sadly in the TV adaptation, his absence was all-too apparent - without a fully formed central character, all the others were reduced to simple caricature.
Nonetheless, the first three series stand proudly alongside other classic BBC comedies such as Fawlty Towers, Only Fools and Horses, Dad's Army and Steptoe and Son - this video should be a welcome addition to anyone's collection.
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
I didn't get where I am today without realising that this is one of the best sit-coms ever made. Superb casting (particularly Rossiter)and brilliant scripts by David Nobbs make it work on all levels. Let's hope the BBC release all the series for the Perrin completist. My favourite was the one where they set up a therapy centre and commune in Reggie's house, (was that called the Better World of Reginal Perrin?) I even think the last series, The Legacy Of Reginal Perrin, should come out on DVD as although there was sadly no Leonard Rossiter, it did have all the dysfunctional regulars barking out their catchphrases like a mad machine gun and that gave it a charm of its own. Great! Super!
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
This is a marvellous series, which matches the many other highpoints of 1970's comedy (Fawlty Towers, Dads Army etc). Whilst the 2nd and 3rd series both have their merits this is the essential purchase of the 3.
Reginald Perrin is a middle-class 40ish business man working for a very average company. As the series starts we see his 'normal' working day; the walk to the station, the same people on the train every day, the irritating people at work. As for most of us his life runs like a clock... round and round. Then Reggie starts to change and his behaviour gets stranger and stranger as the series progresses.
Leonard Rossiter plays Perrin and was clearly born to play the role. This is a comic performance that matches anything else you can think of from the 1970's. The rest of the cast are good as well. Its all very very funny, with all the major characters having little catchphrases or quirks that make them memorable. This of course has become quite normal in comedy now (think of The Fast Show and Little Britain).
I started work a few years after this series was first shown and for while used to get the train like Reggie did. Whilst I never did any of the stranger things that occur in this series the thought did cross my mind a few times!
Reginald Perrin is a middle-class 40ish business man working for a very average company. As the series starts we see his 'normal' working day; the walk to the station, the same people on the train every day, the irritating people at work. As for most of us his life runs like a clock... round and round. Then Reggie starts to change and his behaviour gets stranger and stranger as the series progresses.
Leonard Rossiter plays Perrin and was clearly born to play the role. This is a comic performance that matches anything else you can think of from the 1970's. The rest of the cast are good as well. Its all very very funny, with all the major characters having little catchphrases or quirks that make them memorable. This of course has become quite normal in comedy now (think of The Fast Show and Little Britain).
I started work a few years after this series was first shown and for while used to get the train like Reggie did. Whilst I never did any of the stranger things that occur in this series the thought did cross my mind a few times!
Most Recent Customer Reviews
the Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin
Having watched the series of Reggie Perrin many years ago we were delighted to find that we could get the whole series on DVD and it has been a total joy to watch it again. Read more
Published on 3 Jun 2009 by P. Wilby
A sitcom masterpiece
Many sitcoms from the 1970s have aged very badly due to the fact that are no longer relevant to the modern audience. Nobody could make the same claim about Reginald Perrin. Read more
Published on 1 Dec 2007 by M. Hopkins
A Forgotten Classic
It may not be readily recognised alongside the likes of Only Fools & Horses or Blackadder, but The Fall & Rise of Reginald Perrin is very much a classic sitcom in its own... Read more
Published on 1 Aug 2004 by "rbarratt_79"
Great.....Super.......
My review of this will be short and to the point. Nobbs is a beautiful writer, Rossiter was a comedic hreo, much missed, a 70s classic which, in most, hasn't aged....Great, super!
Published on 5 May 2003 by carl iredale
Funny Crisis
Watching the DVD reissue of this series 25 years on, I was struck by how ahead of its time it must have been in the '70s. Read more
Published on 4 Dec 2002 by Mr
Hilarious content, spoilt only by "cramming" through editing
Having enjoyed the original first series of Reggie, I was delighted to be able to purchase it on VHS video. Read more
Published on 16 Feb 2002
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