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gridlockjoeIn general, I loathe remakes. I look at them as a sign that there are no new ideas. And most of the time they don't hold up to the original... though some come close, others miss by a mile.
And so I was very concerned when I heard a year ago that the BBC was remaking my favourite Britcom, The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin, which starred the irreplaceable Leonard Rossiter.
The first episode of Reggie Perrin aired tonight on the BBC. The new version stars Martin Clunes as Reggie, who is still a long-suffering 40-ish middle manager who is becoming more and more exasperated with life.
Well, colour me pleasantly surprised. My friend Matt wrote that he "really felt [he] should dislike it entirely on principle", and I have to agree: nobody can out-Rossiter Rossiter. To his credit, Clunes sets out to make the character his own, and he succeeds. The new version of C.J. fell a bit flat, though.
The reimagining was written by Simon Nye (of Men Behaving Badly) and David Nobbs, who created the original series. Hearing that Nobbs was involved made me relax a little about the new series.
I appreciated the nods to the original series (including Reggie walking past Sunshine Desserts on his way to his job at Groomtech).
I'm looking forward to downloading the remaining 5 episodes, and to the DVD which is due out (in the UK) on June 1.
And so I was very concerned when I heard a year ago that the BBC was remaking my favourite Britcom, The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin, which starred the irreplaceable Leonard Rossiter.
The first episode of Reggie Perrin aired tonight on the BBC. The new version stars Martin Clunes as Reggie, who is still a long-suffering 40-ish middle manager who is becoming more and more exasperated with life.
Well, colour me pleasantly surprised. My friend Matt wrote that he "really felt [he] should dislike it entirely on principle", and I have to agree: nobody can out-Rossiter Rossiter. To his credit, Clunes sets out to make the character his own, and he succeeds. The new version of C.J. fell a bit flat, though.
The reimagining was written by Simon Nye (of Men Behaving Badly) and David Nobbs, who created the original series. Hearing that Nobbs was involved made me relax a little about the new series.
I appreciated the nods to the original series (including Reggie walking past Sunshine Desserts on his way to his job at Groomtech).
I'm looking forward to downloading the remaining 5 episodes, and to the DVD which is due out (in the UK) on June 1.
