LeonardRossiter.com: Rigsby Online - Story of Rising Damp - The TV Series
See Main Biographies page for appearances and biographies. 
Rupert Rigsby played by Leonard Rossiter
Landlord of the boarding house. Extremely prejudiced, especially toward students and blacks (examples of both of which reside in his home). Married (Veronica, during wartime, and on pain of death by her father's shotgun), but now separated. Has a shoplifting brother, Ron, in Accrington. Wears one set of clothes: holey green cardigan, minus most buttons, shiny grey trousers, worn red slippers (but still has his demob suit, minus its pockets' linings). Participation in World War II sketchy at best. Has tendency to embellish war stories. Dislikes children (after receiving a singed beard while playing Santa one Christmas). Has barred any romance in the house (probably based on jealousy). Lusts after Ruth Jones, a tenant and spinster. Only companion is Vienna, his flea-bitten cat. 
Ruth Jones played by Frances de la Tour
Tenant of the boarding house. University administrator, responsible for the accommodation of students.Thirty-something spinster with few previous beaus (one being a policeman who always wore his uniform, hence the need to keep swinging their arms to show they weren't handcuffed together). Has brought a womanly touch to the dingy lodgings (eg. blue water in the toilet) and never complains about her room (unlike the other tenants). 
Continually rebuffs Rigsby's advances. Lusts after black student tenant Philip Smith, but eventually falls in love with and moves out to live with librarian Desmond, but returns after it doesn't work out. Eventually accepts Rigsby's hand in marriage but gets cold feet before the service. 
Alan Moore played by Richard Beckinsale
Tenant of the boarding house. Medical student at the local university. A kind, gentle sort of chap, with boyish good looks, which have, nevertheless, resulted in a noticeable absence of girlfriends, despite his boasting to the contrary. Still very much under his parents' wings (he goes home at the weekends), he is rather cowardly and gullible, but enjoys playing tricks on Rigsby with his room-mate Philip Smith. Graduates as a doctor and leaves the house. 
Philip Smith played by Don Warrington
Tenant of the boarding house. Town and country planning student at the local university. Alleges he is from Africa and has ten wives. A black, well-spoken, well-dressed gentleman, with tribal makrs and a long history of girlfriends, much to the annoyance of room-mate Alan. Is lusted after by Miss Jones, much to the annoyance of Rigsby. Has no interest in Miss Jones, much to the annoyance of Miss Jones. Is often the butt of Rigsby's racist, bigoted comments. 
The Series
    Series One was broadcast from December 13th 1974 to January 17th 1975, and was an immediate success. It was a personal triumph for Leonard Rossiter, his first sitcom role. Each week, viewers learned more and more about each of the characters. Rigsby would go to even greater lengths to win affection from Miss Jones, while being victim to Alan and Philip's pranks. Rigsby would carry around his overweight, slothful cat Vienna (which Leonard hated off-set. Although a cat-lover, he used to complain that Vienna smelled awful), barging into the boys' room without knocking, trying to catch them 'up to something', which they never were. Mocking Philip, his race and his culture, while trying to be a father-figure to Alan, Rigsby came over as cold, pretentious and chauvinistic, but at the same time vulnerable, a sad, lonely figure of a man who longed for love and happiness in his twilight years. As Eric Chappell says: "Rigsby wanted to be part of their lives, which became irritating for them... and he was always coming through doors without knocking, saying he had right of access - which really meant access to their lives, not just their rooms." The first series of any sitcom is much concerned with establishing the characters and their lives, and Eric displayed this very well in the scripts, which often drew on the script from The Banana Box. We learn that Rigsby did marry, a battle-axe called Veronica, but he was 'elated' when she left him. He was a soldier in World War Two, and would get out his mementoes or relate one of his yarns at the slightest mention of the war. Leonard once said of Rigsby: "I knew people like this. I've sat in pubs with them." And Don Warrington concurs: "I think he really caught something about the English in Rigsby - a sort of emotional incontinence which one can see in pubs. The one who knows it all and actually knows nothing. He got that brilliantly."
    The second series ran from November 7th until December 19th 1975, and saw further development of the characters. In Episode Four (' Moonlight & Roses '), Miss Jones is swept off her feet by a librarian named Desmond (played by Robin Parkinson), and her departure rocks Rigsby's world - until Alan installs artists' nude model Brenda (played by Gay Rose) into the vacant room. A conman (Henry McGee) plays on Rigsby's gullibility to take his money (' The Perfect Gentleman '), and the tenants have the last laugh when he tries to convince them that the house is haunted by a 'grey lady' (' Things That Go Bump In The Night '). Although ending on December 19th, the series appeared to continue for another week when a Boxing Day special was broadcast on December 26th entitled ' For The Man Who Has Everything ', which sees Rigsby spending Christmas alone, opening his own Christmas card, and hoping he will catch someone under the mistletoe. The boys return home early for some yuletide romancing, thinking Rigsby is spending the festive season away. A delay in the writing of episodes caused conflict with theatre commitments for Frances, resulting in her being written out of the episodes The Perfect Gentleman , The Last Of The Big Spenders , Things That Go Bump In The Night and the Christmas special For The Man Who Has Everything .
    Rising Damp was absent from British screens for the whole of 1976 (except for repeats). This was due to Leonard's contract with the BBC filming The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin . But Rising Damp returned for a third series on April 12th 1977. Babies (' That's My Boy '), snakes (' Fawcett's Python '), a gay playwright (' Stage Struck ') and a hypochondriac (' Suddenly At Home ') all descend on 'Bleak House' for another seven episodes of brilliantly-written and even more brilliantly-acted sitcom fun. Frances de la Tour returned as Miss Jones, and Peter Bowles, Derek Francis, Ann Beach and Roger Brierley were among the guest stars for Series Three which ran until May 24th. By now, Richard Beckinsale had another successful series under his belt, Porridge, with Ronnie Barker. And Leonard had created another character of sitcom legend, over on BBC1. For those who had never seen Leonard on stage, the appearance of such disparate characters as Rigsby and Reginald Perrin gave the viewing public the opinion that theatre critics had long- known: that Leonard Rossiter was a fantastically versatile actor, hugely-talented, committing staggering energy and vitality to both performances on both channels. "I have never known such energy and such pace", recalls Eric Chappell. "He could speak quicker than most people, and he could think about three different things at the same time, which was useful! He'd be remembering his lines, watching the set and the actors, and watching where the cameras were. He was really in control."
    Another year was to pass before Rising Damp's fourth and final series was aired. It featured just six episodes instead of the usual seven, for the simple reason that YTV forgot to commission a seventh! (Eric's scripts for Rising Damp were commissioned individually). The series ran from April 4th to May 9th 1978, and saw some of the funniest episodes of all, and commanding massive audience figures of over 18 million. Richard Beckinsale had left to pursue theatre commitments and the series' director Ronnie Baxter had left to direct In Loving Memory, so Vernon Lawrence took over the directorship. Nevertheless, the fourth series lost none of its quality: ' Great Expectations ' co-starred Andrew Sachs and Gretchen Franklin in a family inheritance tale that goes sour, but turns out for the best in the end. In 'Pink Carnations', a desperate Rigsby places an ad in a lonely-hearts column, only to have it answered by Miss Jones. And in the final episode, Rigsby finally proposes to Miss Jones, who accepts. Sadly, she stands him up at the church, only to find that Rigsby had gone to the wrong church anyway.
    And so Rising Damp, one of the greatest sitcoms of all time, came to an end. It had won itself a BAFTA for Best Comedy, rocketed Leonard Rossiter to stardom and the comedy Hall of Fame, and it had served as a springboard for the writer Eric Chappell, who went on to write other classic situation comedies including Singles, The Bounder, Haggard, Home To Roost, Duty Free and Only When I Laugh. The perfection of the scripts, the massive talents of the actors involved, and the timelessness of the stories and settings ensure Rising Damp is as popular today as it has always been.