Link: After their first night of sleeping under canvas, C.J., Doc and Tony clamber out of their tents for their ablutions, and then return.
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Reggie Online: The Official Reginald Perrin web site
Scene-by-Scene Guide, including DVD Captures Gallery
Series Three, Episode Two
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| Episode
Two:
Link: After their first night of sleeping under canvas, C.J., Doc and Tony clamber out of their tents for their ablutions, and then return. |
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| Scene 1: Day two of the community and Reggie has called a meeting at nine o'clock prompt. He enters the living room. It is empty. It is 9.52 before the staff are all assembled, with the exception of C.J., who is babysitting Reggie Harris-Jones. Reggie asks for comments, but none are forthcoming, so he asks how the tent brigade are getting on. Doc Morrissey says he feels insecure in his tent. Tony says that's because it keeps falling down on him. Joan says Tony won't get any sex while they're under canvas, and Tony kicks Joan in embarrassment. The group then have a philosophical and moral debate about whether it was right for him to do so, and whether Reggie should be giving out orders. C.J. enters in a bad mood, with the legs of a cuddly Kermit toy protruding from the top of his trousers. He tells Prue that baby Reggie has wet himself, and she gives him a clean nappy, though he has no idea what to do with it. Elizabeth leaves to start the dinner, and the meeting breaks up. |
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| Scene 2: In the kitchen, Elizabeth is busy cooking food for all the staff, and Reggie enters to brief her on the outcome of the meeting. Elizabeth says that lunch will be late and that Reggie must employ a professional cook. |
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| Scene 3: Reggie is on a narrowboat on a canal. It is one of a fleet of hire boats co-owned by Jimmy, Elizabeth's brother. They duck to pass under a low bridge, and Jimmy's back locks up. While he is in a stooping position, the barge runs into the canal bank. Attempts to fend off with a barge-pole are unsuccessful and they are still there after sunset. |
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| Scene 4: Next day, Reggie is passing through the living room, and is surprised to see Jimmy waiting for him. He tells him there has been a cock-up on the judgement of men front, as his boat hire partner turned out to have fraudulent capital and huge debts, and so the firm has gone bankrupt. Reggie is delighted to welcome Jimmy on board as the leader of the Expeditionary Force. |
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| Link: At the crack of dawn, Jimmy is in the garden bugling "Come To The Cookhouse Door, Boys" as a reveille to get the 'troops' up and out of their tents. Reggie rushes out in his dressing gown to tell him to stop it. |
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| Scene 5: Early next morning, Reggie has just finished setting the rotas for the day, including C.J. babysitting for the third day running, when Joan enters with Mr. Penfold from number 21, next door, who has come round to complain. Almost immediately, Joan returns with Mrs. Hollies from number 17, who has also come round to complain - about the cars, the noise, the dawn bugling, etc. Reggie tells them 'they ain't seen nothing yet', and soon the place will be flooding with hundreds of people. |
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| Scene 6: Reggie visits the kitchen to congratulate the newest staff member on his cooking. Kenny McBlane is a well-built, rosy-cheeked, pock-marked, boil-covered Scotsman. Reggie tries to make conversation, but the Scot is totally incomprehensible. Reggie pretends he understands, and sidles out of the kitchen. |
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| Link: Reggie visits Tony Webster in his tent to ask him to 'black-up' as a West Indian, then returns to his complaining neighbours, telling them they are right an that he has decided to sell up. A 'prospective house-buyer' comes in:Winston Gladstone Baldwin Chamberlain Frederick (Tony in disguise), dressed in rastafarian colours and dreadlocks, and says he will buy the place. The neighbours are horrified. Reggie then gets Tom to dress as a Sikh to buy another house, and C.J. overdoes it dressed as an Al Jolson-type black man, complete with white eyes and lips. Nevertheless, the plan works, and Reggie's neighbours move out, not wanting to live next to 'ethnic minorities'. |
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| Scene 7: With a fortnight to go to the grand opening of Perrins, Reggie asks the assembled staff if they have come up with any ideas. Tom introduces aggression-less football, due to there being no opposition. |
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| Scene 8: The staff try out a game of Tom's version of football. The final score is 4-1, as Jimmy forgot to change ends at half-time. On the way back to the dressing room, Doc Morrissey invites Joan to change shirts with him. She declines the offer. |
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| Link: Everyone is throwing themselves into their new roles: Doc is trying word association experiments, Jimmy is leading litter-clearing operations, Prue is teaching the Doc how to make a wicker basket and David is failing miserably to confront his own shyness about talking about sex. |
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| Scene 9: In the communal living room, there are just two days to go to the opening day, and Reggie is congratulating everyone on their efforts. Jimmy asks how many bookings they have. Elizabeth consults her guestbook, as if taking some time to count them all, and announces: one. |
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| Scene 10: The sole guest arrives - Mr. C. R. Babbacombe, a Welsh undertaker. Reggie and David try desperately to avoid the subject of 'the other guests' and tell him he must have his meals in his room for the time being, but the guest is so looking forward to meeting the others, Reggie says he can do so tomorrow. |
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| Scene 11: Reggie decides that half of the staff must pretend to be guests, so that Mr. Babbacombe will not feel alone. Elizabeth draws five names out of a hat, and David, Joan, Doc, C.J. and Elizabeth go off to practice their roles. Consequently, the five remaining members of staff will have to take on two jobs temporarily. |
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| Scene 12: Next morning, at the first proper meeting of staff and guests, Mr. Babbacombe is seated in the middle of a row of strange-looking people - the five staff members in disguise. The five real staff are seated opposite. Reggie opens the meeting, and invites the Doc to say a few words. Doc Morrissey stands up, forgetting that he's not supposed to be the Doc, and sits back down again. Jimmy is nudged into action by Reggie, and Jimmy searches for something to say, and finally offers wise medical advice about having a cold shower if they fancy any of the local female population. Doc Morrissey stands again to explain his earlier standing, claiming he is prey to the delusion that he's a member of the medical profession. Jimmy is invited to explain Doc's delusions, but is at a loss for words. Reggie fills him in. C.J. proclaims 'he can't make friends' and is awaiting the services of the undertaker. Joan and Elizabeth both mistakenly identify themselves as 'Mrs. Naylor', and Reggie again diffuses the situation by thinking on his feet. David Harris-Jones then springs to his feet, claiming he is a drug addict, and over-acts badly. Mr. Babbacombe recognises him instantly as the warden who let him in yesterday, and sees through the ruse that everyone except himself are staff. Reggie passes it off as a psychological test. The staff assemble opposite the undertaker, leaving Mr. Babbacombe alone. He starts to panic, confirms the payment situation - stay as long as you like, pay as much as you like - and runs off. Reggie smiles at the staff, then goes out and yells in the hallway. |
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