Acting Career
In 1982, Reitel starred in the Further Adventures Of Lucky Jim, a BBC2 sitcom written by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais. Reitel played Jim Dixon, based on the character created by Kingsley Amis.
He appeared on stage in Me And My Girl at the Adelphi Theatre in 1986. On television he worked as an impressionist on the satirical puppet show Spitting Image and starred in the ITV sitcom Mog as a burglar who spent his days in a psychiatric hospital, pretending to be insane.
He played the lead role in the UK TV comedy series The Optimist which ran from 1983 for two series. The programme was almost entirely silent. In each episode 'The Optimist' wandered through life doing his best to look on the bright side. He was usually thwarted in his endeavours by the people he encountered. He also appeared in the first series of the UK comedy show Whose Line Is It Anyway.
In addition, he appeared in a short film called "Coconuts" with Michael Palin, in which the two of them did a demonstration on how coconuts can be used in place of horses. This film can be seen on the second disk of the collector's edition of Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
He played the lead role in the 2007 film Trust Me, a comedy about a pair of con men.
Reitel was the first choice to play Del Boy Trotter in Only Fools and Horses, but was busy with other projects (the role ultimately went to David Jason).
He also played two roles in different episodes of long-running sitcom "One Foot in the Grave". In the first Christmas special, he played "Mr Starkey", a down and out who holds Victor and his neighbour's father at gunpoint to wait for Armageddon on Christmas Day. In the second episode of series 3, "Dreamland", he played a tramp who took a fancy to Victor's shoes, but drew the line at his Noel Edmonds sweater.
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