Rising Damp

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.

Looking back now it is clear that most of the great comedies of the 1970s were made by the BBC. The commercial ITV network often had hit shows but few seem to have stood the test of time. In addition its nature as a patchwork of different companies perhaps made it difficult for comedies to grow and find an audience. Rising Damp is an exception to this; a comedy made by one of the ITV comedies that approached moments of pure genius and is just as funny now as when it was made.

A top rate cast worked well together to create characters that are funny and believable. In addition top quality scripts make every episode a gem.

A later film version simply did not work and should be avoided.

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.

Rigsby was the third of the golden trio of bigots on British TV sit coms in the 70's, the others of course being Alf Garnet and Eddie Booth. Alf Garnet was an obnoxious and overbearing loud-mouth who never knew when to shut up ( he mellowed a bit by the 1980's in the revamped IN SICKNESS AND IN HEALTH). LOVE THY NEIGHBOUR was a comedy centered at all times on blatant "in your face" racial goading as well as infantile boorish insults that even back then was tiresome .

I can't say this about RISING DAMP or the main character Rigsby. Sure racial remarks were part and parcel of Rigsbys repertoire.For example in one episode you only had to look at the expression on Rigsbys face to see what he was thinking when Philip said he did not like the color of an ashened face sick tenant, or the episode when Rigsby mocked hunger and poverty in Africa!

However, by contrast with RISING DAMP you could also laugh at Rigsbys Scrooge like and eccentric behavior over money and his shortcomings when dealing with women; i.e his narcissistic obsession over Miss Jones is point in case. No matter how hard he worked he couldn't get this man hungry spinster to take an interest in him! In addition his pre WWII upbringing and social values were often at odds with the social changes in 1970's, i.e long haired students living on a grant. Also his insensitivity and impatience towards his tenants and their problems provided an extra dimension of comedy.

In one episode he was trying to reason with a suicidal tenant to come down off his roof rather than jump then asked him while up there if he could straighten the TV aerial to improve the reception. This was a real party piece that had a Tony Hancock style of incompetence to it rather than it being mean spirited.

He was not well educated but he was likable and despite obvious flaws in his character, when forced to, often displayed loyalty towards Alan and Philip despite there different values. For example in the episode PERMISSIVE SOCIETY he stood up and confronted an irate father of one of Alans girl friend's also, in the episode NIGHT OUT he stood no nonsense and made a fool of the waiter and insulted the owner.

Lastly, women were not spared Rigsbys rudeness, the episode WINE AND ROSES he runs into an old battle-axe who he mistakingly thinks is his blind date. "I've never been so insulted in all my life" she barks, "well you should try to go out more often!" Rigsby snaps -- utterly hilarious. I.e. he spread his ignorance and rudeness evenly across class and gender boundaries! Politically incorrect? Of course, what isn't nowadays, yet, certainly watchable today which I can't say for TILL DEATH AS DO PART or LOVE THY NEIGHBOUR.

Despite the fact that many posters seem to think Rising Damp was guilty of racism, the reverse was actually true. Don Warrington's character Philip was often the target of boorish remarks by Leonard Rossiter's landlord Rigsby (not really malicious by the standards of 1970s England, just ignorant: a real 1970s racist wouldn't rent a room in his own house to a black man anyway), but it's Rigsby that we find ridiculous, not Philip. Throughout the series, Philip is consistently portrayed as the most intelligent, charming, attractive, sophisticated and grown-up of all the characters, and he's certainly no deferential Uncle Tom. ... that's not racism, is it?