The classic 70s series was based on the 3 novels by David Nobbs - The Fall & Rise of Reginald Perrin, The Return of Reginald Perrin and The Better World of Reginald Perrin. I've chosen the first of those for this list but all 3 are share the same attributes: warm, moving, funny, astute and humane.
If you aren't familiar with the TV series (three in all), Reginald Iolanthe Perrin worked for Sunshine Deserts, arriving late each day because of some (increasingly unlikely) rail problem. He chose to fake his own death and escape his old life. After working on a pig farm (I wonder where Nobbs got that idea?) he returned in the guise of an old friend of Reggie's and remarried his wife (although as Reggie's old friend). Then came the whole saga of his Grot empire and then, in the final volume, an ultimately futile attempt to meet the needs of a society that was breaking apart.
I don't currently own these books but I'm pretty sure that will change before too long. Maybe too rooted in the 70s for some, they nevertheless still ring true to life, albeit without the hope only the gospel can bring.
Having been chided by our Marketing lecturer for not including a bibliography with our essays (in early '83), I chose to include these novels on the bibliography of my next essay for him, because they had spared me sorrow upon sorrow as I wrestled with (what seemed to my undoubtedly depressed mind) a topic of no value or worth for human existence (the details of which failed to lodge in my soul). Mr Dawson (for it was he) didn't spot their inclusion on the bibliography until I pointed it out to him. He grinned weakly, in a way that Reggie would have understood.
4 comments:
Cor! I don't think it had quite clicked that they were books first. And I just remember it, only just!
"Sorry I'm late, escaped giraffe on the A1" that type of thing.
That makes me want to keep an eye out for them, second hand.
BTW, they remade it recently - I saw about two minutes, and then realised that a) you can't replace Rossiter and b) it now carries a strong language warning. Sheesh.
I saw a very small amount of the re-make - it just didn't cut it for me. Tbh, I couldn't see the point: the original was hardly so anachronistic that today's rat-trapped workers wouldn't be able to appreciate it....and I agree, no-one could replace LR (do you remember seeing him in 2001: A Space Odyssey?)
nope?
Well, you must watch it as soon as you can - dear old Leonard has a cameo role as a Russian space scientist, if my memory serves me right.
Post a Comment