Rising Damp

Rising Damp starred Leonard Rossiter, Frances de la Tour, Richard Beckinsale and Don Warrington.[4] Rossiter played Rupert Rigsby (originally Rooksby in the stage play), the miserly, seedy, and ludicrously self-regarding landlord of a run-down Victorian townhouse who rents out his shabby bedsits to a variety of tenants. Beckinsale played Alan Moore, a long-haired, naive, good-natured and amiable medical student who occupies the top room. Frances de la Tour played Ruth Jones, a fey, whimsical spinster and college administrator who rents another room, is approaching middle age, and with whom Rigsby is in love.

In the pilot episode, a new tenant arrives. Philip Smith (Don Warrington) is a planning student who claims to be the son of an African Chief. As a black man, he brings out the ill-informed fears and knee-jerk suspicions of Rigsby. However, the landlord quickly accepts his new tenant and henceforth regards him with a wary respect... wary because of Philip's intelligence and smooth manners, and especially because Miss Jones finds herself attracted to the handsome sophisticate. Of these four principal actors, only Beckinsale was a new recruit – the others had all played their roles in the original stage play.

In the first series, there was another tenant Spooner, a professional wrestler, played by Derek Newark. Rigsby gets on his bad side when he and Alan 'borrow' his clothes in the episode 'A Night Out'. Spooner made only two appearances but is mentioned in other episodes in Series 1. Other tenants occasionally move into the house but never became permanent residents, often appearing only in a single episode. Peter Bowles and Peter Jeffrey were among the actors portraying these tenants.

Frances de la Tour temporarily left the series in 1975, after appearing in four episodes of the second series, because of theatre commitments. She was "replaced" by Gabrielle Rose for three episodes as new tenant Brenda (she also appeared in la Tour's last episode of 1975 "Moonlight and Roses"), whilst Henry McGee also stood in for one episode as new tenant and conman Seymour. Frances de la Tour returned for the final two series.

Richard Beckinsale did not appear in the fourth series due to West End theatre commitments. Eric Chappell wrote some lines into the intended first episode 'Fire and Brimstone' to explain Alan's absence (he had passed his exams to become a doctor) but these were cut when it was decided to broadcast the second episode 'Hello Young Lovers' as the first episode instead.

Eric Chappell defended Rigsby by saying he "was not a racist or a bigot, but he was prejudiced and suspicious of strangers. But he accepted Philip and his only concern afterwards was that he didn't get a leg over Miss Jones."

A feature film version was released in 1980, reusing several storylines from the television series. As Richard Beckinsale had died the year before, Christopher Strauli was cast as a new character, art student John. The character of Alan is briefly referenced, as having left. The film's theme song features lyrics by Eric Chappell and was released as a 7" single. The B-side features comedy dialogue between Rigsby and Miss Jones.

Philip is revealed not to be a chief's son from Africa, but from Croydon, adopting his false persona to start a new life and gain respect. When Rigsby finds out, he tells Philip that he believes he must have some royal ancestry and he does not tell the rest of the characters about his deception. This plotline is from the original stageplay The Banana Box.

The series has been repeated frequently by ITV in the years since it was originally broadcast. It was repeated on Channel 4 between 1998 and 2004 until the digital channel ITV3 was launched. As of 2021, the series is still repeated on ITV3.

The series aired in the United States and Canada on A&E from 1991-1992. It also aired on the US version of the network prior to that, in the mid-1980s. [6]

The complete series has been released on Region 2 DVD under the Granada Media, Cinema Club and ITV DVD labels; from 2006 to 2008, Acorn Media released it on region 1 DVD in North American markets. On screen episode titles have been added to the Region 2 DVD versions of series 1 & 2. The episode titles on series 3 & 4 are however original. Also, the Region 1 releases are the only ones to retain the Yorkshire Television Colour Production frontcaps/endboards, as well as the "end of part one" and "part two" ad-break captions. All of these presentation elements are edited out of the Region 2 releases.

During the 2016 Easter holiday, the entire series and film were shown on ITV3, accompanied by a brand new two-part documentary, Rising Damp Forever, featuring cast and crew recollections on the making of the show.[7][8]

In November 2020, all four series of the show were made available for streaming in the U.K., U.S., and Canada via the online digital subscription service BritBox.[9][10]

A guide to the show called Rising Damp: A Celebration was written by Richard Webber and published in 2001. The book features a history of the show's development, along with an episode guide, interviews, and profiles of the people who worked on the show.[11]

The complete scripts for the series were published by Granada Media Group in the 2002 book Rising Damp: The Complete Scripts. This collection does not include the feature film version. In his introduction, Eric Chappell writes: "When I decided to publish the scripts of Rising Damp my first thought was, did I have them all? What followed was a desperate search in the loft amongst piles of mildewed papers until I found them.… The scripts were written in feverish haste by someone who didn’t really know what he was doing, and who was finding things out as he went along. I didn’t admit this at the time, even to myself. I took the view that sitcom writers fell into two categories: the quick and the dead, and I didn’t intend to be one of the latter!"[12]

Rising damp is a condition caused by ground moisture rising up a masonry wall by capillary action. It often occurs where there is no damp-proof course (DPC) or where the DPC has been damaged or bridged. Older houses, such as depicted in the show, were built without damp-proof courses or with a barrier material that is liable to failure.

In the British climate, water infiltration of structures is a common problem, particularly in older houses without a basement or cellar and those constructed before the commonplace use of a damp course. Penetrating damp is visible as a darker patch on the plaster lining of the inner wall, usually starting at floor level on the ground floor and rising up from there, hence the term 'rising damp'. In extreme cases, salt leached out of the wall forms crystals on the surface of the plaster as the water evaporates. The appearance of rising damp in a house suggests a degree of neglect, age, decrepitude etc.

^ This includes the film version, since Carlton had acquired the rights to the film, and through the mergers of the various ITV companies Granada Television subsequently acquired the rights to both the Carlton and Yorkshire Television archives.

• List of films based on British comedy series

• Webber, Richard (2001), Rising Damp: A Celebration, Granada Media Group. ISBN 0-7522-6139-8
• Chappell, Eric (2002), Rising Damp: The Complete Scripts, Granada Media Group. ISBN 0-233-99944-2

• Rising Damp at BBC Online
• Rising Damp at IMDb
• Rising Damp at TV.com
• Rising Damp at British Comedy Guide
• Rising Damp at the BFI's Screenonline
• Rising Damp at British TV Comedy Guide
• The Rising Damp Discussion Forums
• Encyclopedia of Television