Fay Ripley

Martin Clunes's affability and a smattering of good lines rescue this re-imagining of the Leonard Rossiter classic from complete pointlessness. I particularly enjoyed Reggie and his adored Jasmine's discussion about her lack of a boyfriend; Jasmine: "Men are damaged, gay, ugly or married." Reggie: "Snow White's less well-known friends." But Reggie is in trouble. Grot is doing thunderously well with its terrible products and his evil boardroom bosses want to slim down Groomtech ready to sell it to the highest bidder. When he breaks the news of imminent redundancy to his staff, there is much elaborate special pleading. Things aren't much better at home where Reggie's neglected wife Nicola (Fay Ripley) is jobless and moping, and finding it hard to fend off the attentions of her randy next-door neighbour (Alexander Armstrong).

If you've ever wondered what someone tap-dancing on Leonard Rossiter's grave would look like, tune in for this version of Reggie Perrin. It's sort of like watching the original Seventies sitcom, only without any decent jokes and recorded in front of an apparently lobotomised live studio audience who guffaw at puns that Two Pints of Lager would have scorned. Even solid comic actors like Fay Ripley and Alexander Armstrong can't make this script work, while Martin Clunes, though affable enough, is badly miscast as the blackly witty Perrin. Tonight, our hero is ordered to fire one of his staff, with unhilarious consequences.

Fay Ripley's praise will be music to Clunes' ears

Fay Ripley says she is 'not a nice person' unlike her Reggie Perrin co-star Martin Clunes.

Reginald Iolanthe Perrin is back from the brink with a new zest for his once monotonous life in this second series of the sluggish sitcom. Martin Clunes reprises his role as the eponymous everyman tipped over the edge by the twin prisons of middle England and middle management. In this first episode, he resigns from his executive job at Groomtech Industries. "What are you going to do?" asks his wife (Fay Ripley). "Anything that doesn't need me to dress in a grey commuter romper suit, ride in an airless metal tube twice a day and sell my soul to the Devil."

If there's anything more surprising than the BBC deciding to remake The Rise And Fall Of Reginald Perrin, it's that they decided to plough on with series two.

Martin Clunes received a mixed reception as an updated incarnation of the melancholic middle manager but we rejoin him now on a beach where he has gone to resolve his mid-life crisis. Having decided against death (faked or otherwise) as an exit-route out of his daily grind, he makes a momentous decision to resign and utters the immortal words to his Groomtech boss: "You can take this job and stuff it up your a***."

As Reggie walks away from the cut-andthrust world of disposable razors to embark on a brand new life of self-sufficiency, it's a constant struggle for him personally and for the series as a whole to shake off the ghosts of the past - not only Leonard Rossiter's original, but another 70s sitcom giant, The Good Life. So referencing the US sitcom Mork and Mindy probably doesn't help either in that regard.

On the positive side, it's not without its laugh-out-loud moments, especially when his wife Nicola (Fay Ripley) explains why she's jobless too.

Fay Ripley interview

Fay Ripley's back as put-upon wife Nicola in a new series of Reggie Perrin on BBC One...

After the high of last week's hilarious opener, I thought this episode was very flat overall. None of Sean Lock's flights-of-fancy left the ground, Jason Manford seemed to struggle for material, and the choice of guests wasn't very good. I'm not a fan of young standup Jack Whitehall, and while I find Josie Long strangely beguiling (it's her grinning, just-rolled-out-of-bed cuteness), she wasn't very funny here.

Peter Jones from Dragons' Den was subdued to begin with, but he warmed up in the second part -- and in doing so gave comedy ammo to the others about his millionaire lifestyle anecdotes. Fay Ripley wasn't a total loss because she got involved, but this episode was definitely slack and its content has already melted from my memory. You know it's a weak episode when a clip from the US version of Wife Swap (an irritating fat kid being denied junk food by his "swapped" mom) proved to be the highlight.

As the flat-footed comedy about PAs nears the end of its first series, Roger (Peter Wright) is surprised by a woman from his past just as his wife comes to visit. Sally (Morven Christie) tries to avoid Steven (Tom Ellis) on their first aid course and Christine (Fay Ripley) turns to medication to try to control her drinking.

Apparently Monday Monday has spent a couple of years gathering dust on ITV Drama's shelf prior to broadcast. It is difficult to understand why, as this eight-part comedy drama is nothing if not likeable.

An ensemble piece, Monday Monday follows the lives and loves of white collar staff at a recently relocated supermarket chain.

It is hardly the most innovative or challenging of dramas, but it has charm and humour to spare and a top notch cast that includes Holly Aird, Jenny Agutter and Fay Ripley. Miranda Hart, comedy actress du jour, has a minor role, which gives you an idea of how long ago the series was made.

Ripley, an actress I have developed an irrational aversion to, is actually very good as Christine, an ex-alcoholic working in human resources who is totally lacking in any resources of her own.

Tonight's episode takes as its dramatic theme one of the corporate world's more abhorrent phenomena: the 360-degree appraisal. Christine (Fay Ripley) orders her staff to record their frankest thoughts about each others' "strengths and weaknesses", then while distracted by her attractive young PA commits, with a mouse's click, a managerial faux pas of pitiful daftness.