Objective's Perrin will be traditional sitcom

BBC1's revival of the 1970s show will be called simply Perrin and adopt a more traditional studio sitcom format, with storylines played out in a single episode rather than over the whole series.

Creator David Nobbs, who based the early series on his own Perrin novels, is co-writing all six 30-minute episodes with Men Behaving Badly creator Simon Nye.

Executive producer Phil Clarke said the series, Objective's first studio sitcom and its first comedy commission for BBC1, would be an accessible family show for a pre-watershed slot.

“Reggie's still a man in crisis with the modern world, but what's interesting is to look at where the world has changed since the 1970s and where it hasn't,” Clarke said.

“He won't, for example, dictate memos to his secretary and he'll be using email. It's an opportunity to comment on the modern world without being heavy-handed.”

Martin Clunes has been signed up to play Perrin. The rest of the cast has yet to be named, but Clarke said the show would not directly revive iconic characters such as Perrin's boss CJ, played by John Barron, or brother-in-law Jimmy Anderson, portrayed by Geoffrey Palmer.

Clarke said there would be “little nods” to the original series, which he said would have been unlikely without Nobbs' involvement.

The series enters production next week, with filming due to begin before Christmas.

Objective head of comedy Ben Farrell, who took the idea to Nobbs and Nye, will produce and Tristram Shapeero will direct.

BBC controller of comedy commissioning Lucy Lumsden has repeatedly called for producers to pitch more traditional sitcoms.

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