A shabby boarding house, a nosy landlord and three tenants who just wanted to be left alone. Rising Damp ran on ITV from 1974 to 1978, and Leonard Rossiter's Rigsby is still one of the great comic creations.
Welcome to Rigsby's
Rupert Rigsby owns a run-down house of bedsits in a northern university town. He is mean with money, suspicious of everyone, snobbish and hopelessly in love with one of his tenants. He also cannot resist listening at doors.
Rising Damp was written by Eric Chappell, who adapted it from his own stage play, The Banana Box. It was made by Yorkshire Television and ran for four series.
Who was in it
- Leonard Rossiter as Rupert Rigsby
- Richard Beckinsale as Alan Moore, the long-haired medical student
- Don Warrington as Philip Smith, who said he was the son of an African chief
- Frances de la Tour as Miss Ruth Jones, the university administrator Rigsby adores
Not forgetting Vienna, Rigsby's cat.
Rigsby and his tenants
Rigsby spent most of his time prying into Alan's love life, trying to catch out Philip, whom he envied and suspected in equal measure, and finding new ways to impress Miss Jones. It never worked.
Leonard Rossiter's performance, all twitches, glares and sudden bursts of energy, carried the show. Frances de la Tour was the perfect match as the lonely, flustered Miss Jones, forever waiting for Mr Right.
The film
A Rising Damp film was released in 1980, with most of the cast returning. Richard Beckinsale had died the year before, so Alan does not appear.
Leonard Rossiter went on to star in The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin, while Don Warrington is now known to a new generation for Death in Paradise.
Do you remember Rigsby's chat-up lines for Miss Jones?