nickomcminn

When David Nobbs starting working for the BBC again in the mid-90s he made the bold decision to bring back Reginald Perrin. The critics were scathing about the show and claimed that following the death of Leonard Rossiter it should never have happened. With the benefit of hindsight however, the show was not the disaster it was first claimed to be.

David Nobbs has always been a hugely talented writer and he proves that again here. The ideas in The Legacy of Reginald Perrin are more innovative and funny than most other comedy shows and it is only the overly repetitive catchphrases and a few slow sections which let the scripts down.

Even despite Leonard Rossiter's absence, there are still positives to the cast as well. Geoffrey Palmer is superb as Jimmy Anderson and John Horsley, Bruce Bould and Tim Preece all perform well as well. Sadly though John Barron's age appears to be catching up with him and one or two other cast members had not acted for several years and it shows.

All in all, I would recommend this to fans of the original series. It is certainly imperfect and could have benefited from strong editing but it is nevertheless fascinating viewing.

Tim Vine has the dubious honour of being the first man ever seen on Channel 5 here in the U.K. and this was the vehicle that was developed to suit his talents.

The premise of the programme is that the 100 audience members are asked questions until they are whittled down to 1. This lucky competitor takes home the money.

The show suffers from the same problem that afflicts so many Channel 5 shows, namely a desperate lack of money. Each edition is shot as live, so when Tim fluffs one of his jokes or starts talking to the wrong audience member it is still broadcast. Many of the audience members cannot actually speak English and the handsets are also faulty which adds to the bizarre nature of the show.

Whittle can be described as entertaining but it also feels massively outdated. The fact that it survived for 2 series is something of a miracle.