A musical based on the fictional character Reggie Perrin created by writer David Nobbs is in development.
Wombles musician Mike Batt tweeted: "Chuffed to have been asked to write all the songs for @jonathancoem and @quantick's musical of "The Fall and Rise Of Reginald Perrin" which we finished writing recently. It's DEAD funny! I didn't get where I am today by turning an opportunity like THAT down!"
David Quantick and Jonathan Coe both responded on social media to confirm the news. Coe wrote: "Mike has written some incredible songs for this. David and I have gone back to the books (it’s an adaptation of the first two) and tried to capture their full emotional range, not just the comedy."
Quantick wrote: "Did we forget to mention this? @jonathancoe and I have written a script for the musical version of David Nobbs' The Fall and Rise Of Reginald Perrin, with superb music and lyrics by @Mike_Batt.
Though it looked as if Batt had slightly let the cat out of the bag earlier than planned, following up his initial tweet with a tweet tagging the publicists Republic Media: "/@Republic_Media Bit of a cock-up on the mentioning things to you front..."
The writers have been working on the project for some time now. David Quantick says it predates the West End success of the Only Fools And Horses Musical and also the Father Ted stage project that is in the pipeline. It also has the support of the estate of the late David Nobbs. The creator of Perrin died in 2015.
David Quantick exclusively told BTJ: "Jonathan was friends with David, and I knew him a bit, and we both spoke at David's memorial, then Jonathan had the idea. The estate is behind it and we've been working on it for a couple of years at least, before Fools and Father Ted were announced.."
As for possible casting of the iconic comic legend, Quantick added: "We welcome suggestions!"
The project is still at the development stage. When someone asked on Twitter when we could be seeing this onstage Mike Batt replied: "When some clever producer asks us nicely if they can put it on! (Form an orderly queue!)..."
Buy the original The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin on DVD here.
