Wombles composer joins forces with top comedy writers for stage adaptation

The Fall and Rise Of Reginald Perrin is set to be  turned turned into a stage musical.

Comedy writers Jonathan Coe and David Quantick are adapting the work of the late David Nobbs for the stage – with Wombles composer Mike Batt providing the music.

Batt revealed on Twitter that the writers had asked him to contribute, adding: ‘ I didn’t get where I am today by turning an opportunity like THAT down’

Chuffed to have been asked to write all the songs for @jonathancoe 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!

— Mike Batt (@Mike_Batt) April 30, 2019

Coe - who wrote the Rotters’ Club and Middle England, added: ‘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, a former NME journalist, has written for Veep, Screenwipe, Smack The Pony, Chris Morris’s Jam and Brass Eye, among many others.

The musical is still in development, with no theatre yet signed up to staging it.

Perrin first appeared in the 1975 novel The Death of Reginald Perrin, and was made into the Leonard Rossiter sitcom the following year.

Nobbs wrote two further novels, with each again adapted for TV.

In 2009, the character was revived when Nobbs united with Men Behaving Badly writer Simon Nye to pen a new sitcom, with Martin Clunes in the title role. It ran for two series, though was unloved by critics.

Published: 1 May 2019