Acting In 1982, Reitel starred in
The Further Adventures of Lucky Jim, a sitcom on
BBC Two 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. ''|263x263px He played the lead role in the UK television 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?. Reitel also appeared in a number of BBC radio comedy programmes in the 1980s, including
Dial M For Pizza and the radio adaptation of the cartoon strip
The Fosdyke Saga. In 2001, he appeared in a short film called
Coconuts with
Michael Palin, in which they 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 second choice to play
Del Boy Trotter in
Only Fools and Horses (behind
Jim Broadbent aka Roy Slater in the series), 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 Meldrew (
Richard Wilson) and his neighbour Pippa's father, Reverend Croker (
Geoffrey Chater) 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-esque sweater.
Voiceovers Reitel does voiceovers for
The X Factor. He played the Town Crier and The Maggot in
Tim Burton's
Corpse Bride and played
Auric Goldfinger in the 2004 video game
GoldenEye: Rogue Agent. It is his voice that provides the vocals on
Lemon Jelly's "Nice Weather For Ducks" in 2002. He narrated the in-game promo spot for the Praying Mantis PMC in
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. He also does Lorenzo Belli's voice from Capcom's survival horror game
Haunting Ground. He was also the voice of Billy the ventriloquist dummy in James Wan's movie
Dead Silence. He also provided voice performance for the audiobook of the sixth book in
Eoin Colfer's
Artemis Fowl series,
The Time Paradox. Reitel also provided the voice for Delvin Mallory in
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and the Wizard Zabodon in
The Big Knights. He also provided the voice of Ost Ordura in
Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, and
Alfred Pennyworth in
Batman: The Telltale Series (2016), as well as its sequel
Batman: The Enemy Within (2017). He also played Male Altmer and Dunmer in
The Elder Scrolls Online. He also provided voices of The Time Keeper in
Skylanders: Swap Force,
Laufey in
Hulk and the Agents of SMASH, Master Ding in
Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness, Sebastian Oliver in
Adr1ft, Olgan in
Baten Kaitos Origins, Bootstrap Bill Turner in ''
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, A Male Pedestrian in Infamous, Deraegis in Batman: The Brave and the Bold, Five Leaf Clover Guy, Japanese Deputy, Robertson, Boss Guraji and Fox in TripTank, Edwin Jarvis in Marvel Heroes, An English Spy in American Dad!, Billy in Dead Silence and The Dreamer in The Secret World. In May 2014, Reitel replaced Ade Edmondson as the voice of the Animal in the Peperami'' adverts. ==Filmography==