Rising Damp
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Rising Damp was a UK television sitcom produced by Yorkshire Television for ITV, first broadcast in 1974. It was adapted by its writer Eric Chappell from a well-received stage play.
It starred Leonard Rossiter, Frances de la Tour and Richard Beckinsale. Rossiter played Rigsby, a miserly, seedy landlord of a run-down town house who rented rooms out. Beckinsale played Alan, a long-haired, naive medical student who occupied the top room; and de la Tour was Miss Ruth Jones, a fey, whimsical spinster who rented a ground floor room and with whom Rigsby was in love.
Early in the series, a new tenant moved in. He was Philip Smith, played by Don Warrington, who claimed to be the son of an African chief. As a black man, he brought out the fears and suspicions of the old-fashioned Rigsby, who had been unaware that his new tenant was black because of the "upper class" English accent with which he spoke in telephone conversations. Nevertheless, the landlord soon accepted his new tenant and was later only wary of him because Miss Jones was attracted to him. Of these four principal actors, only Beckinsale was a new recruit. The others had all played their roles in the stage play.
Other tenants occasionally lived at the house but never became permanent residents; often they would appear in just one episode.
The series is arguably the best sitcom to be broadcast by main commercial channel ITV - some critics claim it is the only good ITV sitcom. It was the highest-ranking ITV sitcom on the 100 Best Sitcoms poll run in 2004 by the BBC, and Rigsby is considered one of British comedy's great characters.
Beckinsale left the series in 1977 and was not replaced. A feature film was made in 1980, consisting of a messy plot which recycled scripts from the series and a certain amount of viewer (and actor) discomfort because Beckinsale's early death the year before had left a sizeable gap. His place, though not his actual character, was taken by actor Christopher Strauli. The film's theme song is not especially memorable, but does feature lyrics by Chappell.
In the movie, Philip is revealed not to be a chief's son after all, which was very disappointing for fans.
Rossiter died in 1984.
As of 2004 the series is still frequently repeated on UK terrestrial and satellite channels (though sometimes with noticeable cuts) and the complete series has been released on Region 2 DVD. Unfortunately for fans, many episodes only exist in the form of copies with grainy pictures and badly distorted sound, the original master tapes apparently having been wiped.
External link
- BBC Comedy Guide to Rising Damp (http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/guide/articles/r/risingdamp_7775500.shtml)