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Other Topics => Television => Topic started by: JaseSF on April 22, 2013, 10:51:41 PM



Title: Rising Damp
Post by: JaseSF on April 22, 2013, 10:51:41 PM
Anyone else ever see this British comedy sitcom series from the 70s? It starred Leonard Rossiter as Rupert Rigsby, a seedy landlord of a rundown boarding house who seems to have way too high an opinion of himself and an opinion and his take on knowledge to impart on everyone else including two college students to whom he rent rooms. Said students (played by Richard Beckinsale and Don Warrington) are typically quite quick to put Rigsby in his place in more ways than one or find inventive ways to put him there. Also staying at the house is Miss Ruth Jones (Frances de la Tour) who quickly becomes a love interest for Rigsby despite her having no real interest in him.

I picked up a DVD of Series 3 at a Dollar Store here and it proved quite a surprise. I hadn't ever seen the series before and it was delightfully funny, clever and ahead of its time. Lead Rossiter comes across as a kind of buffoonish bluffer mix of Mr. Roper from Three's Company and Archie Bunker from All in the Family but this show also has a darker, edgier side given the gloominess of the setting and sometimes seediness of the characters. I ended up watching the whole series in one sitting I enjoyed it so much. Anyone else ever seen this one?


Title: Re: Rising Damp
Post by: BoyScoutKevin on April 23, 2013, 05:47:05 PM
Oh, yes. This has always been one of my favorite TV shows from the U.K. Apparently, the same time he was appearing in this, he was also appearing in another great TV show from the U.K., "The Rise and Fall of Reginald Perrin," where he was an executive at Sunshine Desserts.

There was, and I did not know this, when the show ended its run on British TV, there was a film version of this made for the big screen,that came out in 1980, with much the same cast as the TV show.

But, of course, my first memory of him was as Sowerberry the undertaker in "Oliver."

A great actor both on the big screen and on TV.


Title: Re: Rising Damp
Post by: crackers on May 10, 2013, 11:00:37 AM
I've seen this and really like it, but being from the UK I guess thats cheating hahaha