Rising Damp
Encyclopedia
Rising Damp is a television sitcom
produced by Yorkshire Television
for ITV
, first broadcast from 1974 to 1978. It was adapted for television by Eric Chappell
from his well-received 1971 stage play, The Banana Box (retained as the working title early in the series.) The series was the highest-ranking ITV sitcom on the 100 Best Sitcoms poll run in 2004 by the BBC
.
, Frances de la Tour
, Richard Beckinsale
and Don Warrington
. Rossiter played Rupert Rigsby (originally Rooksby in the stage play): the miserly, seedy, and ludicrously self-regarding landlord
of a run-down Victorian town house who rents out his shabby bedsit
s to a variety of tenants. Beckinsale played Alan Guy Moore, a long-haired, naive, good-natured and amiable medical student
who occupies the top room. Frances de la Tour was Miss Ruth Jones: a fey, whimsical spinster and college administrator who rents another room, with whom Rigsby is in love and to whom he proposes in the last episode.
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, smooth manners and especially because Miss Jones finds herself attracted to the handsome sophisticate. Of these four principal actor
s, 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. The series is in the British comedy tradition of having failure as a key underlying theme, each of the characters leading lives of quiet desperation.
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 (Gay) 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 legover Miss Jones'.
-like life for himself, which everyone in the house believes. Outsiders, however, see through his outlandish lies.
should be reinstated but this time "in public"). He is suspicious of anything beyond his intensely parochial and personalised sphere of interest and most particularly of Philip, who is suave, intelligent, well-spoken
- and black. Rigsby is an old fashioned colonial type with somewhat prejudiced views. He is suspicious of Philip because of his enigmatic and adroit character and the fact that he is genuinely sophisticated, educated and charismatic (all that Rigsby aspires to be but isn't). Rigsby is an ardent British
patriot
, believing himself to be a lost member of the British royal family
. He also makes exaggerated and romanticised references to his military service during World War II
(e.g. frequently referring to 'a bit of trouble with the old shrapnel'). Rigsby is also a tremendous snob, and obsessively pre-occupied with being perceived as middle class
which - although he is the proprietor of a boarding house - is perhaps a stretch too far. He often affects an 'old school tie' attitude - likely to be another of his fanciful fronts as there is no mention of any public school
connections (and one must assume that if he had any, he would mention them frequently instead of peremptorily). Seedy and furtive, Rigsby has markedly poor interpersonal skills and his professed romantic interest in Miss Jones is merely opportunistically sexual: he spends most of the series trying to prove to her otherwise, invariably to no avail.
As he pries and spies upon his tenants, Rigsby is often seen carrying Vienna, his big, fluffy, white-and-black tomcat
, about the house. Rigsby's amiable pet (and confidant) is so named because - as Rigsby tells it - when he goes to put him out on a cold dark night, if there is another set of eyes out there, then it's Good Night, Vienna
.
(seemingly upper middle class
). Rigsby sees her as a sophisticate and any courtship with Miss Jones would be a social as well as sexual conquest.
family and appreciates music and arts. Although Alan is academically successful, socially he is somewhat inept, appearing to have few friends outside of the lodging house. Alan occasionally confides his problems with Rigsby, who is always unsympathetic. On one occasion however, Alan is defended by Rigsby, when an incandescent father of one of his girlfriends suspects the two of them have been having sex
, Rigsby sends the man out of the house with a 'flea in his ear', defending Alan, apparently because Rigsby was offended the man assumed Rigsby to be Alan's father. Alan is immature and Rigsby does become somewhat of a strange father figure for him.
, although for most of the series he claims to be the son of an African tribal King. Philip largely fabricates a Walter Mitty
style life for himself, glamorising his unremarkable background. Miss Jones, Rigsby and Alan all willingly believe him, but outsiders never seem to. Philip is an intelligent, educated man (more so than the moderately educated Alan and Miss Jones), he is sophisticated and suave; this makes Rigsby suspicious of him, particularly as Miss Jones openly fancies him. Philip does not reciprocate Miss Jones' romantic interest.
, and Alan says he commutes via Yorkshire Traction
, a former bus company which operated in South
and West Yorkshire
, particularly around Barnsley
. Incidental characters tend to have northern English accents. The show was recorded in Leeds
and the setting is generally accepted as being in Yorkshire
.
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 cannot believe Philip doesn't come from Africa, and continues to assume he does. This plotline is from the original stageplay The Banana Box.
The complete series has been released on Region 2 DVD
and Acorn Media is releasing it on region 1 DVD
in North America as well (see below). The series was repeated on Channel 4
between 1998 and 2004 until ITV3 was launched.
On screen episode titles have been added to the DVD versions of series 1 & 2, the episode titles on series 3 & 4 are however original.
The complete scripts for the series have been published as Rising Damp: The Complete Scripts by Eric Chappell; edited by Richard Webber. London: Granada Media, 2002. 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!”
Tom Pendry
won a libel action against the programme when it portrayed a Labour Party
candidate (played by Michael Ward
) with his surname in an unflattering light. Pendry's name is edited out of the broadcast version when it is repeated. The episode in question Stand Up and Be Counted was the final episode of the first season, and was first broadcast on 27 December 1974. Today's copies of the episode are taken from an NTSC
copy returned from Canada, after the original PAL
videotape was deliberately wiped by Yorkshire Television
because of the offence caused. It was never intended to be broadcast in the UK again.
The character of Rigsby was originally called Rooksby (as used in the pilot episode). This was changed following the threat of legal action against Yorkshire Television from a bed and breakfast
owner from Scarborough with the same name.
In the temperate
/wet British climate, water infiltration into a house can be a problem, particularly in houses without a cellar or crawl space beneath them. The result of water penetrating the inner wall 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. In extreme cases, salt
leached out of the wall forms crystal
s on the surface of the plaster as the water evaporates. Needless to say, the appearance of rising damp everywhere in a house is a symptom of neglect, age, decrepitude etc.
This includes 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.
Situation comedy
A situation comedy, often shortened to sitcom, is a genre of comedy that features characters sharing the same common environment, such as a home or workplace, accompanied with jokes as part of the dialogue...
produced by Yorkshire Television
Yorkshire Television
Yorkshire Television, now officially known as ITV Yorkshire and sometimes unofficially abbreviated to YTV, is a British television broadcaster and the contractor for the Yorkshire franchise area on the ITV network...
for ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
, first broadcast from 1974 to 1978. It was adapted for television by Eric Chappell
Eric Chappell
Eric Chappell is an English comedy writer who wrote and co-wrote a number of the UK's biggest sitcom hits during the 1970s, '80s, and '90s...
from his well-received 1971 stage play, The Banana Box (retained as the working title early in the series.) The series was the highest-ranking ITV sitcom on the 100 Best Sitcoms poll run in 2004 by the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
.
Basic premise
Rising Damp starred Leonard RossiterLeonard Rossiter
Leonard Rossiter was an English actor known for his roles as Rupert Rigsby, in the British comedy television series Rising Damp , and Reginald Iolanthe Perrin, in The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin...
, Frances de la Tour
Frances de la Tour
Frances de la Tour is an English actress perhaps best known for her role as Miss Ruth Jones in the British sitcom Rising Damp, and as Madame Olympe Maxime in the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1.-Early life and family:De la...
, Richard Beckinsale
Richard Beckinsale
Richard Arthur Beckinsale was an English actor, best known for his roles as Lennie Godber in the popular BBC sitcom Porridge and Alan Moore in the British sitcom Rising Damp....
and Don Warrington
Don Warrington
Don Warrington, MBE is a Trinidadian British actor.-Personal life:Warrington was born in Trinidad and Tobago on 23 May 1951 and brought up in Newcastle upon Tyne, England from age five. His father was the Trinidadian politician, Basil Kydd, who died in 1958. He has two sons.His acting career...
. Rossiter played Rupert Rigsby (originally Rooksby in the stage play): the miserly, seedy, and ludicrously self-regarding landlord
Landlord
A landlord is the owner of a house, apartment, condominium, or real estate which is rented or leased to an individual or business, who is called a tenant . When a juristic person is in this position, the term landlord is used. Other terms include lessor and owner...
of a run-down Victorian town house who rents out his shabby bedsit
Bedsit
A bedsit, also known as a bed-sitting room, is a form of rented accommodation common in Great Britain and Ireland consisting of a single room and shared bathroom; they are part of a legal category of dwellings referred to as Houses in multiple occupation....
s to a variety of tenants. Beckinsale played Alan Guy Moore, a long-haired, naive, good-natured and amiable medical student
Student
A student is a learner, or someone who attends an educational institution. In some nations, the English term is reserved for those who attend university, while a schoolchild under the age of eighteen is called a pupil in English...
who occupies the top room. Frances de la Tour was Miss Ruth Jones: a fey, whimsical spinster and college administrator who rents another room, with whom Rigsby is in love and to whom he proposes in the last episode.
In the pilot episode, a new tenant
Leasehold estate
A leasehold estate is an ownership of a temporary right to land or property in which a lessee or a tenant holds rights of real property by some form of title from a lessor or landlord....
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, smooth manners and especially because Miss Jones finds herself attracted to the handsome sophisticate. Of these four principal actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
s, 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
Derek Newark
Derek Newark was an English actor.He appeared in a large number of film and television roles, including The Baron , The Avengers , Z Cars , Barlow at Large in the recurring role of Det. Insp...
. 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. The series is in the British comedy tradition of having failure as a key underlying theme, each of the characters leading lives of quiet desperation.
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 (Gay) Rose
Gabrielle Rose (actress)
Gabrielle Rose is an accomplished Canadian actress. She has an extensive resume that includes multiple nominations for Genie Awards and Gemini Awards...
for three episodes as new tenant Brenda (she also appeared in la Tour's last episode of 1975 "Moonlight and Roses"), whilst Henry McGee
Henry McGee
Henry McGee was a British actor, best known as straight man to Benny Hill for many years. McGee was also often the announcer on Hill's TV programme, delivering the upbeat intro "Yes! It's The Benny Hill Show!"...
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 legover Miss Jones'.
Emphasis on personal failure
The programme depicts closely the failing lives of all four characters. Unusually for such comedy programme, none of the characters is presented in a truly positive and successful light. Rigsby is a divorcee who has since become a seedy, ignorant man who is suspicious of anyone different from himself. Miss Jones is an unhappy spinster who is shown to be desperate for male attention (even willing, in effect, to pay for it). Alan is socially inept and remains a virgin throughout much of the series, despite appearing to be in his mid 20s. Philip is a compulsive liar who creates a Walter MittyWalter Mitty
Walter Mitty is a fictional character in James Thurber's short story "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty", first published in the New Yorker on March 18, 1939, and in book form in My World and Welcome to It in 1942...
-like life for himself, which everyone in the house believes. Outsiders, however, see through his outlandish lies.
Rigsby
Rupert Rigsby is the landlord of the house: an interfering, dour, tight fisted character with markedly right wing views, many of which he appears to have adopted without any evident process of moral examination or personal debate (for example, in the film adaptation he states he believes hangingHanging
Hanging is the lethal suspension of a person by a ligature. The Oxford English Dictionary states that hanging in this sense is "specifically to put to death by suspension by the neck", though it formerly also referred to crucifixion and death by impalement in which the body would remain...
should be reinstated but this time "in public"). He is suspicious of anything beyond his intensely parochial and personalised sphere of interest and most particularly of Philip, who is suave, intelligent, well-spoken
Received Pronunciation
Received Pronunciation , also called the Queen's English, Oxford English or BBC English, is the accent of Standard English in England, with a relationship to regional accents similar to the relationship in other European languages between their standard varieties and their regional forms...
- and black. Rigsby is an old fashioned colonial type with somewhat prejudiced views. He is suspicious of Philip because of his enigmatic and adroit character and the fact that he is genuinely sophisticated, educated and charismatic (all that Rigsby aspires to be but isn't). Rigsby is an ardent British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
patriot
Patriotism
Patriotism is a devotion to one's country, excluding differences caused by the dependencies of the term's meaning upon context, geography and philosophy...
, believing himself to be a lost member of the British royal family
British Royal Family
The British Royal Family is the group of close relatives of the monarch of the United Kingdom. The term is also commonly applied to the same group of people as the relations of the monarch in her or his role as sovereign of any of the other Commonwealth realms, thus sometimes at variance with...
. He also makes exaggerated and romanticised references to his military service during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
(e.g. frequently referring to 'a bit of trouble with the old shrapnel'). Rigsby is also a tremendous snob, and obsessively pre-occupied with being perceived as middle class
Middle class
The middle class is any class of people in the middle of a societal hierarchy. In Weberian socio-economic terms, the middle class is the broad group of people in contemporary society who fall socio-economically between the working class and upper class....
which - although he is the proprietor of a boarding house - is perhaps a stretch too far. He often affects an 'old school tie' attitude - likely to be another of his fanciful fronts as there is no mention of any public school
Public School (UK)
A public school, in common British usage, is a school that is neither administered nor financed by the state or from taxpayer contributions, and is instead funded by a combination of endowments, tuition fees and charitable contributions, usually existing as a non profit-making charitable trust...
connections (and one must assume that if he had any, he would mention them frequently instead of peremptorily). Seedy and furtive, Rigsby has markedly poor interpersonal skills and his professed romantic interest in Miss Jones is merely opportunistically sexual: he spends most of the series trying to prove to her otherwise, invariably to no avail.
As he pries and spies upon his tenants, Rigsby is often seen carrying Vienna, his big, fluffy, white-and-black tomcat
Tomcat
Tomcat may refer to:* A male cat, known as a tom or tommiecat* Tomcats , a 2001 comedy film* Apache Tomcat, an open-source Java Servlet Container developed by the Apache Software Foundation* Beretta Tomcat, a small .32 caliber pistol...
, about the house. Rigsby's amiable pet (and confidant) is so named because - as Rigsby tells it - when he goes to put him out on a cold dark night, if there is another set of eyes out there, then it's Good Night, Vienna
Good Night, Vienna
Goodnight, Vienna is a 1932 British musical film directed by Herbert Wilcox and starring Jack Buchanan and Anna Neagle and Gina Malo. Two lovers in Vienna are separated by the First World War, but are later reunited....
.
Miss Jones
Ruth Jones is an educated college administrator and lifelong spinster. She is a romantic, but usually only gets male attention from Rigsby which, although sometimes enjoying it, she mostly finds an annoyance. Like Rigsby, Miss Jones has pretensions, believing herself to be better than the life she leads and to be reasonably sophisticated. The comedy uses pathos to touch upon the sad, failing life of Miss Jones; in one episode she gives money to a man she has romantic interest in, knowing full well he is conning her, but craving male attention to a point where she is willing to effectively pay him for it. Miss Jones openly fancies Philip, frequently cooking for him, much to the annoyance of Rigsby. However, unfortunately for her, this is not reciprocated. She does find solace in Philip's superior intellect and the two appear to be friends. Besides being a sexual interest of Rigsby, Miss Jones is also a social interest to him, being as she is genuinely middle classMiddle class
The middle class is any class of people in the middle of a societal hierarchy. In Weberian socio-economic terms, the middle class is the broad group of people in contemporary society who fall socio-economically between the working class and upper class....
(seemingly upper middle class
Upper middle class
The upper middle class is a sociological concept referring to the social group constituted by higher-status members of the middle class. This is in contrast to the term "lower middle class", which is used for the group at the opposite end of the middle class stratum, and to the broader term "middle...
). Rigsby sees her as a sophisticate and any courtship with Miss Jones would be a social as well as sexual conquest.
Alan
Alan Moore is a likeable young medical student. Rigsby treats him with mistrust, mainly because of Alan's permissive, left wing views. Alan has little luck with girlfriends, but is content with his life. Alan hails from a middle classMiddle class
The middle class is any class of people in the middle of a societal hierarchy. In Weberian socio-economic terms, the middle class is the broad group of people in contemporary society who fall socio-economically between the working class and upper class....
family and appreciates music and arts. Although Alan is academically successful, socially he is somewhat inept, appearing to have few friends outside of the lodging house. Alan occasionally confides his problems with Rigsby, who is always unsympathetic. On one occasion however, Alan is defended by Rigsby, when an incandescent father of one of his girlfriends suspects the two of them have been having sex
Sex
In biology, sex is a process of combining and mixing genetic traits, often resulting in the specialization of organisms into a male or female variety . Sexual reproduction involves combining specialized cells to form offspring that inherit traits from both parents...
, Rigsby sends the man out of the house with a 'flea in his ear', defending Alan, apparently because Rigsby was offended the man assumed Rigsby to be Alan's father. Alan is immature and Rigsby does become somewhat of a strange father figure for him.
Philip
Philip Smith is a second generation African immigrant from CroydonCroydon
Croydon is a town in South London, England, located within the London Borough of Croydon to which it gives its name. It is situated south of Charing Cross...
, although for most of the series he claims to be the son of an African tribal King. Philip largely fabricates a Walter Mitty
Walter Mitty
Walter Mitty is a fictional character in James Thurber's short story "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty", first published in the New Yorker on March 18, 1939, and in book form in My World and Welcome to It in 1942...
style life for himself, glamorising his unremarkable background. Miss Jones, Rigsby and Alan all willingly believe him, but outsiders never seem to. Philip is an intelligent, educated man (more so than the moderately educated Alan and Miss Jones), he is sophisticated and suave; this makes Rigsby suspicious of him, particularly as Miss Jones openly fancies him. Philip does not reciprocate Miss Jones' romantic interest.
Setting
The exact setting is never made clear. It is perhaps not important because it very rarely moves outside of the house. All that is specified is that it is in a town or city in the north of England that is home to a redbrick university, following a few references to the fact: the River Humber is mentioned in one episode as is the seaside resort of CleethorpesCleethorpes
Cleethorpes is a town and unparished area in North East Lincolnshire, England, situated on the estuary of the Humber. It has a population of 31,853 and is a seaside resort.- History :...
, and Alan says he commutes via Yorkshire Traction
Yorkshire Traction
Yorkshire Traction was a bus operator in South Yorkshire. Between 1986 and 2005 it was a key part of the Traction Group. In December 2005 it was sold to the Stagecoach Group.-History:...
, a former bus company which operated in South
South Yorkshire
South Yorkshire is a metropolitan county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It has a population of 1.29 million. It consists of four metropolitan boroughs: Barnsley, Doncaster, Rotherham, and City of Sheffield...
and West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire is a metropolitan county within the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England with a population of 2.2 million. West Yorkshire came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972....
, particularly around Barnsley
Barnsley
Barnsley is a town in South Yorkshire, England. It lies on the River Dearne, north of the city of Sheffield, south of Leeds and west of Doncaster. Barnsley is surrounded by several smaller settlements which together form the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley, of which Barnsley is the largest and...
. Incidental characters tend to have northern English accents. The show was recorded in Leeds
Leeds
Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...
and the setting is generally accepted as being in Yorkshire
Yorkshire
Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...
.
Film
A feature film version was made in 1980, reusing several storylines from the television series. As Richard BeckinsaleRichard Beckinsale
Richard Arthur Beckinsale was an English actor, best known for his roles as Lennie Godber in the popular BBC sitcom Porridge and Alan Moore in the British sitcom Rising Damp....
had died the year before, Christopher Strauli
Christopher Strauli
Christopher Strauli is an English film, television and theatre actor. He is probably most famous for appearing as Norman Binns in the British sitcom Only When I Laugh, alongside James Bolam, Peter Bowles, Richard Wilson and Derrick Branche.-Early life and education:He was born in Harpenden,...
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
Eric Chappell
Eric Chappell is an English comedy writer who wrote and co-wrote a number of the UK's biggest sitcom hits during the 1970s, '80s, and '90s...
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
Croydon
Croydon is a town in South London, England, located within the London Borough of Croydon to which it gives its name. It is situated south of Charing Cross...
, adopting his false persona to start a new life and gain respect. When Rigsby finds out, he cannot believe Philip doesn't come from Africa, and continues to assume he does. This plotline is from the original stageplay The Banana Box.
Re-runs, DVD, and Scripts
the series is still repeated on UK digital channel ITV3ITV3
ITV3 is an entertainment television channel in the United Kingdom that is owned by ITV Digital Channels Ltd, a division of ITV plc. The channel was launched on 1 November 2004. ITV3 is the second largest UK multi-channel, second only to ITV2.-History:...
The complete series has been released on Region 2 DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
and Acorn Media is releasing it on region 1 DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
in North America as well (see below). The series was repeated on Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
between 1998 and 2004 until ITV3 was launched.
On screen episode titles have been added to the DVD versions of series 1 & 2, the episode titles on series 3 & 4 are however original.
The complete scripts for the series have been published as Rising Damp: The Complete Scripts by Eric Chappell; edited by Richard Webber. London: Granada Media, 2002. 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!”
Controversy
Labour MPMember of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
Tom Pendry
Tom Pendry, Baron Pendry
Thomas Pendry, Baron Pendry PC is a Labour politician and member of the House of Lords. He was previously the Labour member of parliament for Stalybridge and Hyde from 1970 to 2001. In 2000, prior to his retirement as an MP he was made a member of the Privy council on the recommendation of Tony...
won a libel action against the programme when it portrayed a Labour Party
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
candidate (played by Michael Ward
Michael Ward (actor)
Michael Ward was an English character actor who appeared in nearly eighty films between 1947 and 1978.-Early life:...
) with his surname in an unflattering light. Pendry's name is edited out of the broadcast version when it is repeated. The episode in question Stand Up and Be Counted was the final episode of the first season, and was first broadcast on 27 December 1974. Today's copies of the episode are taken from an NTSC
NTSC
NTSC, named for the National Television System Committee, is the analog television system that is used in most of North America, most of South America , Burma, South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, the Philippines, and some Pacific island nations and territories .Most countries using the NTSC standard, as...
copy returned from Canada, after the original PAL
PAL
PAL, short for Phase Alternating Line, is an analogue television colour encoding system used in broadcast television systems in many countries. Other common analogue television systems are NTSC and SECAM. This page primarily discusses the PAL colour encoding system...
videotape was deliberately wiped by Yorkshire Television
Yorkshire Television
Yorkshire Television, now officially known as ITV Yorkshire and sometimes unofficially abbreviated to YTV, is a British television broadcaster and the contractor for the Yorkshire franchise area on the ITV network...
because of the offence caused. It was never intended to be broadcast in the UK again.
The character of Rigsby was originally called Rooksby (as used in the pilot episode). This was changed following the threat of legal action against Yorkshire Television from a bed and breakfast
Bed and breakfast
A bed and breakfast is a small lodging establishment that offers overnight accommodation and breakfast, but usually does not offer other meals. Since the 1980s, the meaning of the term has also extended to include accommodations that are also known as "self-catering" establishments...
owner from Scarborough with the same name.
Meaning of the title
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 temperate
Temperate
In geography, temperate or tepid latitudes of the globe lie between the tropics and the polar circles. The changes in these regions between summer and winter are generally relatively moderate, rather than extreme hot or cold...
/wet British climate, water infiltration into a house can be a problem, particularly in houses without a cellar or crawl space beneath them. The result of water penetrating the inner wall is visible as a darker patch on the plaster
Plaster
Plaster is a building material used for coating walls and ceilings. Plaster starts as a dry powder similar to mortar or cement and like those materials it is mixed with water to form a paste which liberates heat and then hardens. Unlike mortar and cement, plaster remains quite soft after setting,...
lining of the inner wall, usually starting at floor level on the ground floor and rising up from there, hence the term. In extreme cases, salt
Salt
In chemistry, salts are ionic compounds that result from the neutralization reaction of an acid and a base. They are composed of cations and anions so that the product is electrically neutral...
leached out of the wall forms crystal
Crystal
A crystal or crystalline solid is a solid material whose constituent atoms, molecules, or ions are arranged in an orderly repeating pattern extending in all three spatial dimensions. The scientific study of crystals and crystal formation is known as crystallography...
s on the surface of the plaster as the water evaporates. Needless to say, the appearance of rising damp everywhere in a house is a symptom of neglect, age, decrepitude etc.
DVD releases
| DVD Title | Country of Release | Region DVD region code DVD region codes are a digital-rights management technique designed to allow film distributors to control aspects of a release, including content, release date, and price, according to the region... |
Date of Release | DVD company | Catalog Number | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
All DVD releases are single disc, unless otherwise indicated. |
|||||||
| Rising Damp - The Complete First Series | 2 | 7 May 2001 | Granada Media | ||||
| The Very Best of Rising Damp | 2 | 16 September 2002 | Cinema Club | Compilation Release | |||
| Rising Damp - The Movie | 17 February 2003 | Umbrella | |||||
| Rising Damp - The Works | 2 | 14 June 2004 | Cinema Club | 4-disc set of series 1-4; Missing Christmas episode. | |||
| Rising Damp - The Movie | 2 | 15 November 2004 | ITV ITV ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK... DVD |
||||
| Rising Damp - The Complete TV Series PLUS the Movie | 2 | 21 November 2005 | ITV ITV ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK... DVD |
37115 20253 | 5-disc set of the complete series (including Christmas episode) plus the movie | ||
| Rising Damp - Series 1 | 1 | 10 January 2006 | Acorn Media | ||||
| Rising Damp - Series 2 | 1 | 6 June 2006 | Acorn Media | ||||
| Rising Damp - Series 3 | 1 | 16 January 2007 | Acorn Media | ||||
| Rising Damp - Series 4 | 1 | 17 July 2007 | Acorn Media | ||||
| Rising Damp - The Movie | 1 | 15 January 2008 | Acorn Media | ||||
| Rising Damp - The Complete Series | 2 | 1 September 2008 | Network Network DVD Network DVD is a DVD publishing company that specialises in classic British television. In particular, it has the rights to a number of well-known ITV programmes... |
5-disc set of all four series (includes 75 Xmas special) plus 1980 Film version | |||
This includes includes the film version, since Carlton
Carlton Television
Carlton Television was the ITV franchise holder for London and the surrounding counties including the cities of Solihull and Coventry of the West Midlands, south Suffolk, middle and east Hampshire, Oxfordshire, south Bedfordshire, south Northamptonshire, parts of Herefordshire & Worcestershire,...
had acquired the rights to the film, and through the mergers of the various ITV companies Granada Television
Granada Television
Granada Television is the ITV contractor for North West England. Based in Manchester since its inception, it is the only surviving original ITA franchisee from 1954 and is ITV's most successful....
subsequently acquired the rights to both the Carlton and Yorkshire Television archives.
External links
- Rising Damp at British TV Comedy Guide
- The Rising Damp Discussion Forums
- Rigsby Online - Official Web Site
- Encyclopedia of Television