Caption:
“Reginald Perrin, 46, behaving strangely, making plans for future. Crisis point approaching!"
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Friday. It is the day of Reggie's speech at the Bilberry Hall seminar. Reggie is in his front room, confiding in his cat Ponsonby his plans for pseudocide. Reggie has started to use the wrong words, and tells Elizabeth to arrive at the hall at 'half past parsnips'. He makes the excuse that C.J. has asked for some parsnips, and Elizabeth goes off to the kitchen to fetch some.
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Reggie realises it is the last time he has to stare at the faces in his train compartment, throws his briefcase out of the window, and gives Peter Cartwright his program for the Bilberry Hall seminar to blow his nose on. Watch video.
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Reggie arrives at the office, as always eleven minutes late. Sick of his umbrella missing the hook on the hatstand, he picks it up and snaps it in half over his knee. He clears his desk by sweeping everything onto the floor. Joan tells Reggie not to be nervous, and her suggestion of being able to impress them standing on his head makes Reggie imagine the scene if he did deliver his speech from that position. David and Tony wish good luck on Reggie for his speech, then C.J. enters to do the same. Reggie tries to say his final goodbyes to Joan without letting her realise it, then walks out, leaving Joan wondering what he meant.
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Reggie visits Doc Morrissey for some tablets to calm his nerves and instil confidence. The Doc says he feels the same, as he has to attend C.J.'s fishing contest on Saturday, and Reggie ends up looking through Doc's tablet bottles himself, and they share the contents of a bottle of little white tablets.
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At Bilberry Hall, Reggie arrives in the interval to find Dr. Hump and Mr. Watkins, the seminar's hosts, entertaining Elizabeth. Reggie is drunk and is being very rude. Elizabeth kicks him under the table for having too much wine while at the table.
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In the main hall, the guests are assembled to hear Reggie speech. After a faltering introduction by Mr. Watkins, who has forgotten Reggie's name, Reggie takes to the stand. He is clearly drunk and under the influence of the tablets. His speech is improvised and is nothing whatsoever to do with the role of luxury desserts in a competitive industrial society, or indeed with C.J.'s topic of Are We Getting Our Just Desserts? Talking instead of more gross, more car parks for more tourists and Dutch Parking Meter disease, results in the forcible removal of Reginald Perrin from the stage.
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Driving home, Elizabeth stops off in the town for a depressed Reggie to visit the toilet. He says his final cloaked goodbyes to Elizabeth and leaves the Gents by another exit. He hails a taxi, and heads for Sunshine Desserts.
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Reggie visits Bill, the nightwatchman, with a story he has invented about a consignment of loganberry essence that needs to be shipped to Hamburg immediately, in order to borrow the lorry for his own schemes. At first Bill refuses, but after being handed an old computer printout, Bill pretends he understands it and gives him the keys.
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Reggie sets off for C.J.'s 'country estate' in a big lorry with a jelly-mould design on the back, containing loganberry essence. He parks up in a country lane nearby, and settles down for the night.
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Saturday morning, and Reggie posts a letter under C.J.'s door. C.J. comes down to breakfast, spots the letter and reads it. It is a threatening letter about the river on his estate being in public, not private, hands. Also threatening that 'blood will flow', C.J. decides to take the letter seriously.
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A bucolic scene on the River Test where C.J., Tony and David are trying to catch fish, and Doc Morrissey is trying to untangle his line from the grass. Reggie releases the loganberry essence into the river, and Tony spots it. Remembering the letter, and thereby convinced it is blood, C.J. wades into the river in a panic and passes out, submerging beneath the waters. Tony and David rush over and pull him out. Doc Morrissey declares him dead. C.J. opens one eye and declares him fired.
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.Reggie drives down to the Dorset coast shortly after dark, and walks onto the beach with a suitcase of tramps clothes, and wads of cash. Pausing momentarily to consider actually committing suicide, he walks out into the lapping tide, but decides against it after the water was too cold. Instead, he leaves his pinstripe suit on the beach, dons his mac, false wig and beard, and sets off on his new life.
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Sunday morning, and Reggie is walking the country lanes of Dorset trying to decide on a new name for his new identity. He reads road signs and observes the things around him, such as trees, bikes and cowpats, in an effort to choose a suitable name.
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