My initial reaction of a remake of this show was why bother?
Martin Clunes for some reason that's beyond me appears to be the flavour of the month, so he is injected into Remakes ad infinitum.
Because I love the original and Leonard Rossiter is Reginald Perrin, I have put off even bothering with the remake.
A major irritant for me is the perpetual laughter it doesn't matter if it's a studio audience or canned laughter, the show isn't funny and this has the opposite effect of inducing me to laugh.
This is a BBC show but I couldn't see it on their iPlayer, so I had to catch it on YouTube in three separate bites.
Reluctantly I can concede that the original show was of its time in some ways, comparing the two series highlights it.
In the first series Elizabeth Perrin is shown as the atypical housewife of the male executive, which is very much the view of the decade of the 1970's.
She is seen as the loving doting spouse always there with a reassurance for her hubby, we rarely actually see her life portrayed outside of this viewpoint. This for me is the principle difference between the two series, with Reggie having to take some account for his spouse actually having a life outside of him.
There were other regular characters in the original series and its interesting to see the remakes take on them, in this first episode we see some from Reggie's workplace.
Reggie's boss CJ is an iconic character with a brilliant catchphrase, personally John Barron personified this pompous persona.
But sadly Neil Stuke well perhaps he finds his feet eventually and manages to get some form of grip on the character, but I won't see enough of the episodes to find out.
Another excellent character in the original series is the company Doctor Doc Morrissey, he is so absolutely wonderfully played by John Horsley, that for me his appearances are far too sparse. He is that shambling wreck of total incompetence, that he is an absolutely essential part of the company that is Sunshine Desserts.
The Remake provides us with I am tempted to say is a practitioner of new age alternative's to traditional medicine, at least I am sure that's what Reggie thinks of the company doctor.
If I was unlucky enough to work for this company I would prefer to visit Doc Morrisey, because he would make me feel a trifle better about, whatever ailment I thought I was suffering from.
Another two characters that Reggie has to contend with on a regular basis, at work is the office dogsbodies Tony Webster and David Harris-Jones, these hapless non entities are splendidly embodied by Trevor Adams and Bruce Bould.
In comparison it is a trifle invidious to attempt to compare the Remakes alternatives of Steve and Anthony with the originals, and unfortunately as I don't intend to watch any more than the first episode, I won't see if Nick Mohammed and Jim Howick are any good in their roles.
I think that's more than enough of a review certainly way more than the show deserves, finally Martin Clunes as Reggie Perrin oh dear where to start?
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