Reggie Perrin is a remake of the classic series The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin by David Nobbs, who cowrites this series with Simon Nye, the creator of Men Behaving Badly, and starring Martin Clunes as Reggie.
This show provides examples of:
- Abhorrent Admirer: Monty, Reggie's best friend, to Nicola.
- All for Nothing: By the end of the series, Reggie is right back where he started.
- All Men Are Perverts: Reggie has a number of fantasies about Jasmine Strauss, his beautiful coworker. Chris forces a kiss on Jasmine, and smacks Nicola on the backside.
- Bad Boss: Chris Jackson, a cross between this and a Pointy-Haired Boss, which is more akin to C.J. from the original. The chairman, Mr. Fox, is fairly mean-spirited too, but his behaviour is somewhat justified in the face of Reggie's antics.
- Brilliant, but Lazy: More like brilliant but uninspired, Reggie can make excellent ad campaigns and new product ideas with very short notice, he just really wishes he wasn't.
- Brutal Honesty: Reggie is relatively prone to this already, but his meltdown exacerbates matters.
- Catchphrase:
- Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: After his (feeble) attempt to seduce Nicola, Monty is never seen again.
- Deadpan Snarker: Reggie of course.
- The Ditz: Sue. Vicky to some extent, though she's a more moody variant. She gets better in series two, especially when Reggie comes back.
- Double Standard: When Reggie is having a breakdown, Nicola doesn't seem to notice, but expects complete sympathy from him when she goes through one of her own.
- Engineered Public Confession: Reggie records the chairman confessing Groomtech is overpriced and plays it back to potential buyers.
- Foreshadowing: When Reggie first meets David, he makes a glib comment about everyone sleeping with one of the neighbours. Towards the end of the season, David sleeps with Nicola, his own next door neighbour.
- Granola Girl: Sue, the company's "Wellness Person".
- Hollywood Tone-Deaf: Nicola.
- I Didn't Mean to Turn You On: Jasmine to Reggie.
- Imagine Spot: Well it is Reggie Perrin...
- Kick the Dog: Reggie is encouraged to be more open with his feelings, leaving him to call William very annoying and Sue the worst therapist he has ever met. Sue is upset, but William agrees with him.
- Mad Libs Catch Phrase: Chris and William borrow C.J. and Jimmy's catchphrases from the old series, whilst Anthony and Steve have "I'm almost physically excited by (X)...".
- Wellness lady Sue has: "you (X) sausage". Or one occasion "you big mad bastard" with the same intonation.
- Remake Cameo: Reggie walks by the old Sunshine Desserts building, whilst Chris reads "Boss" magazine with C.J. (his old series Expy)'s face on the cover.
- The Starscream: Steve is a rather spiteful example, when Anthony receives promotion ahead of him, he stops trying to work and becomes sullen and uncooperative.
- Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: A variant; Colin isn't exactly ugly, but he is The Bore to an extreme extent. Reggie is stunned to find his wife his drop dead gorgeous.
- The Un-Favourite: Sue, whose parents allegedly preferred her sister.
- Women Are Wiser: Subverted; unlike the original series with Elizabeth, Nicola is just as silly as Reggie on occasion, though she is less prone to letting loose.
- Yes-Man: Anthony and Steve.
- You Are What You Hate: David was cheated on by his wife, and later sleeps with Nicola.
