Martin Clunes

It does not say much about broadcasters' confidence in new writing when they fall back on reviving something tried and tested. There seems to be a lot of this about at the moment. It has just been confirmed by the BBC that Martin Clunes is going to recreate the classic lead role made famous in the seventies by Leonard Rossiter, in a remake of The Fall And Rise Of Reginald Perrin. It will now be called simply Perrin and no doubt there will be lots of headlines about Reggie behaving very badly.

Clunes is always good value and quality writer Simon Nye is working on it with Reggie's creator David Nobbs, which sounds good. The only thing that worries me is that we have slightly been here before with The Legacy of Reginald Perrin, the 1996 series that, unlike the forthcoming version gathered together original cast members, but like the forthcoming version, lacked the real star, Leonard Rossiter, due to Rossiter being dead. Which is a bit like Hamlet without Hamlet.

Bruce Dessau, Evening Standard, 16th January 2009

The strange afterlife of Reginald Perrin

A character whose initials spell RIP was always destined more for death than resurrection but Reginald Iolanthe Perrin is to rise again, with Martin Clunes stepping into the shoes that Leonard Rossiter left on the beach when he faked his own demise in the David Nobbs comedy that ran on BBC1 from 1976-1979.

Mark Lawson, The Guardian, 15th January 2009

A couple's plans to retire are scuppered as each of their adult children return home. This BBC sitcom ran from 1983-87, providing an early role for Martin Clunes (as one of the offspring). Inoffensive and uninspiring, it was just another in a long line of tedious middle class comedies in which stuffy old dad and his stuffy old values are the butt of jokes for his 'with it' kids... yawn.

Lorna Cooper, MSN Entertainment, 12th August 2008