Grot beckons for Clunes
Thursday, December 4, 2008 by Graham Kibble-White
On a hiding to nothing (surely!): Martin Clunes is Reggie Perrin!
Leonard Rossiter, irreplacable as Reggie Perrin
Now filming at Teddington Studios, Clunes is making a return to sitcom, reprising Leonard Rossiter’s classic role.
“Inspired by the original books and TV series of the ’70s [written by David Nobbs],” says the press info, “Perrin updates the world of the classic sitcom character Reginald Perrin, placing it and him in 2009. Starring Martin Clunes, it’s a modern story of a deskbound sales executive combating personal crises with flights of fancy, pushed by personal and work related stress towards insanity.”
Ouch.
I wonder if they will get anyone to play other characters such as CJ (or just leave them out)? John barron died quite a few years back in ’04. x.x
Ljones
Well, apparently this isn’t going to be a full-blown remake but rather a completely different spin on the concept, with the same basic idea but completely updated and with a new set of charatcers. Looks like Reggie will be the only original character.
Anyway, it might be good, if they’re starting from scratch it’ll probably be more relevant and engaging than a straight remake. Also, Martin Clunes is a bloody good comic actor and it’ll be a treat to see him in a sitcom again.
Actually, the bits I liked best about Men Behaving Badly were Martin Clunes being pissed off in an office. So he should be decent enough in this role. But why not just do something new?
The suggestion that it’ll be a completely new take on the Perrin story with different supporting characters gives me hope for the first time since I heard about this project. Nobbsy’s still got it, as the super Maltby Collection proves, and my respect for Clunes and Nye is considerable. I just can’t ever see the point of remaking something that was perfect. If it’s not a remake, then it deserves a chance.
I’m hoping this won’t end up as some sort of horrible “re-imagining” of the whole story. IHMO, that happened to dr.who and the new series of that show is totally different to the old one (and not as good!).
Ljones
‘Dr.Who’ wasn’t ‘reimagined’, Ljones. The new show is a continuation. I think its as good as the old one IMHO. On to ‘Reggie Perrin’, I do not see the need for a remake. There is no way that Clunes’s portrayal is ever going to match that of the magnificent Leonard Rossiter.
I’m quite happy to have Martin Clunes do Perrin, partly because for some reason I never really equated the Rossiter-Perrin with the book-Perrin. I mean, I love both the TV series and the books, but reading the books I just don’t picture Perrin as anything like Rossiter’s portrayal, even though the dialogue and storylines are almost identical. So as far as I’m concerned, there’s plenty of room for another “interpretation” of the role. I’d prefer to see it done in a more “comedy-drama” way, though.
Although I find this idea as being a further indication that no one in television really knows what they’re doing anymore, I’m glad that Martin Clunes has something better to do after years of whimsical comedy drama and documentaries about ITV1-friendly animals.