I USUALLY enjoy the talented Martin Clunes on TV. The only time I've met him face to face was during the late 1990s, when he was filming an episode of Men Behaving Badly in Worthing.
It wasn't among the best of the Men Behaving... series; a little too smutty for good family viewing. But I still chuckle when remembering the location at The Groyne View Hotel (the now-demolished Eardley).
But on the heels of his successful Doc Martin character, Mr Clunes has made something of a classic error – trying to repeat the iconic 1970s role of Reginald Perrin, portrayed so wonderfully by the late Leonard Rossiter.
It's not that Clunes and his script don't attack the Perrin legend with verve and imagination. What is lacking, for a start, is the surprise element of discovering, first time, dear old Reggie's many foibles, and the superb supporting cast of C.J., Tony, David, Joan, brother-in-law Jimmy (Geoffrey Palmer) and Doc Morrissey.
We loved C.J. (played by John Barron) all the more, being as John lived in Ferring, and his "I didn't get where I am today..." line became one of the country's favourite catch phrases. Unfortunately, when his 2009 successor delivers the line, it sounds and falls as flat as a pancake.
No, it mostly doesn't pay to try to recreate a classic. Remember the first remake of King Kong, which thought it could out-blockbust the grainy, 1933 black and white original?
It proved a real turkey with critics and the box-office.
And a 1974 remake of David Lean's 1945 classic Brief Encounter sank without trace, even though it starred Richard Burton and Sophia Loren.
They couldn't start to compare with Trevor Howard and Celia Johnson.
I know we can't live in the past, but it would help if a lot more of the "new stuff" is an improvement on what has gone before.
Buildings are an old hobbyhorse of mine, particularly those built in Worthing in the sixties and seventies.
Just look at the crumbling concrete facades of Worthing's Law Courts and the Grafton multi-storey car park, and compare them with Portland House, the traditional, brick-built council offices in Richmond Road.
Rather boring? Yes, but they're easy on the eye and are defying the elements rather well as the years go by.
Also, we shouldn't stand still and let the rest of the world roll on without us.
This applies particularly to a seaside resort like Worthing, which is in a prime position to capture a large, credit-crunch slice of the tourist trade, now that more families are choosing to holiday in Britain.
Do we try to "re-make" holiday attractions of past times, and risk a proverbial raspberry? Should we try to play safe" by copying successful ventures elsewhere?
If we go for really new attractions, then they must be of sufficient substance and quality which won't spoil the mixture which gives Worthing its unique flavour in the first place.
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