And in episode four he does, kind of, with a business trip to Helsinki designed to thrust Groomtech into the global marketplace. It’s understandable why he should be attracted to her. She’s smart, beautiful and, more importantly, an escape route from the banality of life. Of course Reggie should be able to unwind with wife Nicola. He’s got so much steam to let off he could turn the living room into a sauna. But it’s just another dream. Reggie’s increasing isolation from society is impacting on the marriage, as is Nicola’s endless series of social engagements. They both sense the distance growing between them. Explaining why he’s so moody these days, Reggie complains to his wife, “Every time I come home these days the house is full of the walking wounded or a troop of line-dancers or the Action On Nits committee.” A row ensues, leading Nicola to storm off to the pub with Monty. The rift deepens when she goes to stay at her dad’s and he packs for Helsinki. Before flying out, a scheming Reggie tells Jasmine that his marriage is over. They might be travelling to colder climes but things are definitely hotting up between them. In Jasmine’s presence, Reggie can’t keep his mind focussed on the job and accidently refers to her as his lover during a business presentation with two robot-like Finns. Later that evening, after far too much wine, the heavily-flirting colleagues end up back in Reggie’s room and it seems like fantasy is finally going to become reality. They start unbuttoning each other’s clothing when Reggie gets a pang of conscience, visualising Nicola watching him from the bed. Unable to continue, he mumbles to a disappointed Jasmine that he still loves his wife. Aware their boss neither approves of personal fraternisations or alcohol, the caught-out couple hastily try to put things in order before he enters. Chris starts to run-through his business strategy while Reggie goes into the bathroom and calls Nicola, who’s been fighting another challenge to their wedding vows in the not-so-irresistible form of Monty. Despite his enthusiasm for the subject, or perhaps because of, Chris finds the Finns unmoved by his witless presentation. Things are only saved by a last-minute appearance from Reggie, who has come up with the winning concept of flags of the nations razors. Returning to the UK, an emotional Reggie embraces Nicola as she promises to put aside all her appointments for the next week to rescue their marriage. Luckily, there won’t be any problems from Jasmine as she is amazingly understanding of the whole situation. There was so much promise for mayhem; so many opportunities for casting Reggie’s jaundiced eye on the ill-effects of globalisation – for this is supposed to be a sitcom with big ideas behind it. But somehow, and I’m not exactly sure how they managed it, writers Simon Nye and David Nobbs managed to write smaller than ever before. I’ve said before that Reggie needs to bring chaos into the lives of those around them. To be a hurricane of spiralling discontentment that will shake others from their complacency and re-arrange the order of things. Four episodes in, I imagined the Reggie storm would be blowing full-force, but instead see nothing but a slight breeze now and again. Even the plotline concerning the potential affair had little charge to it. I really love the show and want it to succeed in its own way, but how can such a tame approach be anything but a let-down? There were precious few funny lines in a script where most of the ‘humour’ was sourced from that all-too-common curse of stand-up comedy – blatant observationalism. “Listen to this,” the writers seem to say, “Don’t different tongues sound daft!” Did Al Murray have a hand in the writing in the guise of the Pub Landlord? It certainly seems so. I was really let down by this episode and can only, once again, hope that some of the shining wit and bizarre situations devised by Perrin creator Nobbs emerge in the last two instalments. At the moment it feels like 99% Simon Nye on a bad day and 1% stupid. “You know what I like about you, Reggie?” says Jasmine at one point. “It’s that I never know what you are gong to do or say next.” Check out our review of episode 3 here.
