Reggie works in an executive position for confectionery company Sunshine Desserts. His boss is CJ, a superior type whose use of business jargon and metaphors may seem impressive on the surface but is in fact meaningless, empty corporate lingo. His often repeated claims of “I didn’t get where I am today…,” followed by some ludicrous example of what he did or did not do, are equally ridiculous. CJ is a walking bundle of cliché and inconsistencies, his air of sophistication and worldliness in direct opposition  to his penchant for the whoopee cushion, omnipresent on the seat of visitors to his office. Reggie’s other colleagues are no better. Tony and David are would-be whiz kids, who converse solely in superficial banter (Tony: “Great!”; David: “Super!”) and, despite their surface differences (Tony always confident; David forever on the verge of panic), are in fact two sides of the same coin. The firm’s ancient doctor, Morrisey, is an incompetent fool. The only light on Reggie’s horizon is his secretary, Joan, a loyal, efficient woman who forever seems on the verge of throwing herself on Reggie in a sudden fit of passion. When they are alone together the air fairly crackles with sexual tension. At home Reggie has his equally loyal wife, Elizabeth, and endures visits from his terminally dull son-in-law (Tom) and eccentric ex-military brother-in-law Jimmy.

Reggie’s life is mind-numbingly repetitive (the same hellos to the same acquaintances on the way to the station, the same train, which is always precisely 11 minutes late, the same welcome at the office), which propels the midlife crisis that sees him gradually losing his grip on sanity and taking drastic actions to stop himself from descending into total madness. His solution is extreme but perhaps understandable in the circumstances. He fakes his own death (by leaving a suicide note and all his clothes on a beach) and reenters the world as Martin Welbourne, a bearded, exaggerated version of himself. Unable to resist attending his own funeral, he finds himself once again falling in love with his wife, Elizabeth, newly appealing as a widow. 

But Reggie’s descent into lunacy is not to be thwarted so easily. In the second series of the show, he brings himself back from the dead and attempts to change his lifestyle rather than his identity. Soon, in a bout of seeming insanity, which turns out to be a stroke of genius, he opens a shop called Grot, which is dedicated to selling useless things. To everyone’s astonishment, it is hugely successful, and later–when a crisis hits Sunshine Desserts–Reggie employs his former colleagues. A third series sees Reggie, launching Perrins, a commune for middle-class, middle-aged men where a harmonious lifestyle and generous philosophy help counteract midlife crises. 

The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin was a complex, thoughtful comedy, with each of the three series based on a different book written by David Nobbs and then adapted (by the author) for television. The themes of the midlife crisis and the nervous breakdown resonated throughout the episodes, but as the story progressed, it became clear that it was the world, not Reggie, that was insane. Nobbs cast a jaundiced eye on the vacuous lives of those working in highly regarded positions in companies that produced little of significance. The fact that the Grot shop intentionally sold useless things and was so successful was an unsubtle but nonetheless telling comment on a society obsessed with material things.

The series was brilliantly written and rib-achingly funny, benefiting from a sensational performance by Leonard Rossiter in the title role. His intense, convincing portrayal of a man on the edge, combined with his fine instinct for comedy, ensured that the series was elevated even further beyond mainstream sitcom fare.

A U.S. version, Reggie, appeared in 1983 (ABC) with Richard Mulligan in the title role. Although Mulligan was a good choice for Reggie and the show appeared promising, something was certainly lost in the translation. The U.S. version lacked subtlety, with Reggie’s breakdown treated hastily and conveyed by wide-eyed caricature. The following year, a series on Channel 4 in the United Kingdom, Fairly Secret Army (also written by Nobbs), recounted the adventures of a character very similar to Perrin’s brother-in-law Jimmy and played by the same actor (Geoffrey Palmer).

In 1996 the BBC presented a new Perrin series, The Legacy of Reggie Perrin, once again based on a Nobbs book. It took place after Reggie’s death, and after the death of the actor Leonard Rossiter. Many of the original cast members returned in a story that saw Reggie’s influence over his friends, relatives, and colleagues extended from beyond the grave. He left them a vast fortune in his will, on the condition that they each do something utterly ludicrous. Unfortunately, The Legacy of Reggie Perrin was a misguided idea, devoid of the charm of the original and a sad epitaph to a marvelous series.