Reggie Perrin’s creator David Nobbs dies at 80
COMEDY writer David Nobbs, best known as the creator of Reginald Perrin, has died at the age of 80.
The prolific author worked with a range of household names from the Two Ronnies to Les Dawson and Frankie Howerd over a long career.
But he will be best remembered for the immensely popular series The Fall And Rise Of Reginald Perrin, about the misadventures of a frustrated middle-manager working for Sunshine Desserts.
His TV version, which was based on his own novels, ran from 1976 to 1979 and starred Leonard Rossiter as Reggie and Pauline Yates as his wife Elizabeth.
Reggie was a man constantly on the verge of a mid-life crisis, imagining himself in flings with his secretary, played by Sue Nicholls, and picturing his mother-in-law as a hippopotamus.
He was also under the thumb of his tyrannical boss CJ (John Barron), whose catchphrase was: ‘I didn’t get where I am today by...’
Rossiter died in 1984, but a followup series with most of the surviving cast, called The Legacy Of Reginald Perrin, was broadcast in 1996.
Nobbs also wrote the ITV series A Bit Of A Do starring David Jason, and was the author of 20 novels including three about local newspaper reporter Henry Pratt.
Last night comedian Ricky Gervais tweeted: ‘I didn’t get where I am today by not knowing what a genius David Nobbs was. RIP.’
Little Britain star Matt Lucas wrote: ‘Reggie Perrin and A Bit Of A Do were masterpieces. David Nobbs leaves the world a richer place.’
Nobbs is survived by his wife Susan and four stepchildren.