Rising Damp

Until I saw a documentary on Leonard Rossiter as a bonus on the video of The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin (one of my favorite British series), I knew nothing about Rising Damp. Based on the clips, I knew I had to see this series if it was available. Thankfully, all four series and the motion picture are on DVD. The writing is sensational and the cast is wonderful; the chemistry between them is as good as can be imagined. But as good as they all are (and it is particularly good to see some of the work of Richard Beckinsale), Rossiter is the star without question. He is brilliant; one cannot imagine anyone else playing this part. He took me totally by surprise. As good as he was in Perrin, his timing and delivery here are just amazing; he is clearly one of the great actors of his generation. These words are not written lightly.

While it is possible that this series is not seen on U.S. television because of Rigsby's racist statements, one has to look at this in the context of the seventies, when television was exposing many different realities to audiences, and they were loving it (remember the Jeffersons and Good Times?). If Archie Bunker is still to be found on television, there is no reason why Rigsby shouldn't be seen either. Another possible reason is that this is not a BBC or Granada series. At least it lives on DVD in the U.S., and if you are a British comedy fan, this is way up there.

Apparently Leonard Rossiter was a complete perfectionist and very difficult to work with. It was his obsessive perfectionism that made Rising Damp so much better than it's actual content. Of course the casual racist remarks would not be tolerated today, but funny is funny and it was very funny. Eric Chappell's creation of Rigsby was a work of genius and the casting of the show was ideal - it is always what makes a sitcom really work. Francis de la Tour's Miss Jones is played perfectly and Don Warrington's Philip was sophisticated and urbane and much more intelligent than Rigsby as was Richard Beckinsale's Alan. They revolved around Rigsby and had great lines which they delivered wonderfully. It is a great series and I appreciate the decision to show it again , even in these PC times. As a black man I guess I am supposed to be horrified at it but as I said before funny is funny - my dad always loved it way back when too.

This is what sometimes happens when you're a student and you've only got enough money to live in a dingy hovel... you get a landlord like Rigsby. What few standards he has are outdated, so sensitive lads with long hair and intelligent young black men are almost too much to take. Leonard Rossiter's portrayal of a character who could easily be completely beyond redemption is absolutely pitch-perfect. The more episodes you watch, the more you find yourself becoming strangely endeared to his mannerisms and tics, despite the fact that his attitude makes him a thoroughly unpleasant man. Aside from superb comic timing, Rossiter was also a master of the pratfall, so some of the most memorable sequences owe a lot to slapstick (I'm thinking particularly of the arranged boxing match.)

It isn't quite a one man show though. All of the supporting parts were perfectly cast, so even when someone like Don Warrington pops up in more modern fare such as "Red Dwarf", he's still likely to be instantly associated with playing "Phillip" in "Rising Damp". I can't think of a bad episode in the bunch that I've seen. All of the scripts are so polished that they gleam, and this combined with the acting talent is what makes the show stick in the memory as the loved favourite it is.

'Rising Damp' is shown pretty regularly on TV all these years after production ceased on the series, which must be a testament to its staying power.

Set in a grimy house where landlord Rigsby and his tenants (the refined Miss Jones, object of his affections; Alan, a long-haired student of medicine who never seemed to do anything useful; and Philip, a black man of tribal descent, possibly ...) rubbed along together week by week, with new lodgers coming and going, and Rigsby continuing his relentless pursuit of Miss Jones, 'Rising Damp' was pretty much perfect.

Not dated at all when viewed recently, these are genuinely comic characters (especially the excellent performance of the peerless Leonard Rossiter as Rigsby) in amusing situations. Rather like Rigsby's cat, Vienna, we sit back and watch with interest as events unfold and entertain us.

I loved it. Laurels all round (Frances de La Tour, who is an accomplished dramatic actress on stage aside from her comedy work here, as Miss Jones; Don Warrington, still around and not looking much older, as Philip; and lovely Richard Beckinsale, who sadly died in his early thirties at the end of the 1970s, as Alan) and long may the brown door and that tinkly pub piano theme grace our screens.

It is one of the funniest shows ever made, I can watch Rising Damp and instantly lose a bad mood, if I'm honest it's down to the sheer hilarity of Leonard Rossiter. I am aware that the show comes in for stick for being racist, Rigsby was definitely ignorant, and seemed to hate everyone in equal measure, a victim of the 70's class society, but a Racist, I don't think so. Rigsby was always the butt of the joke, always made to looks idiotic by Philip, who was intelligent, cool and charming, all that Rigsby was not. Miss Jones was a delight, so prim and proper, but underneath strong passions burn, and of course Alan, played with such innocence by the wonderful Richard Beckinsale.

So many funny episodes, Pink Carnations, The Permissive Society, Moonlight and Roses, to name a few, but all time funniest episode must be Things That Go Bump in the Night, which stands up to this day as one of the funniest things I've ever seen.

The scripts are superb, but it's the comedy timing and sense of awareness from the entire cast that gets me every time I watch it, I always moan about modern day sitcoms, and why they're not funny, maybe it's not just the scripts, perhaps it's the comic actors. If you want to watch comedy masters at work, then watch Rising Damp.