Fresh and Exciting

Absolutely brilliant

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

This is an ITV sitcom which ran from 1974 - 1978. It is about a landlord - Rupert Rigsby (played by Leonard Rossiter) - and his lodgers - Alan Moore (Richard Beckinsale), Philip Smith (Don Warrington) and Ruth Jones (Frances de la Tour).It is well-written and well-acted. It appears to be set in Yorkshire, although the location is never stated. This was followed in 1980 by a film.

Apparently Leonard Rossiter was a complete perfectionist and very difficult to work with. It was his obsessive perfectionism that made Rising Damp so much better than it's actual content. Of course the casual racist remarks would not be tolerated today, but funny is funny and it was very funny. Eric Chappell's creation of Rigsby was a work of genius and the casting of the show was ideal - it is always what makes a sitcom really work. Francis de la Tour's Miss Jones is played perfectly and Don Warrington's Philip was sophisticated and urbane and much more intelligent than Rigsby as was Richard Beckinsale's Alan. They revolved around Rigsby and had great lines which they delivered wonderfully. It is a great series and I appreciate the decision to show it again , even in these PC times. As a black man I guess I am supposed to be horrified at it but as I said before funny is funny - my dad always loved it way back when too.

Despite the fact that many posters seem to think Rising Damp was guilty of racism, the reverse was actually true. Don Warrington's character Philip was often the target of boorish remarks by Leonard Rossiter's landlord Rigsby (not really malicious by the standards of 1970s England, just ignorant: a real 1970s racist wouldn't rent a room in his own house to a black man anyway), but it's Rigsby that we find ridiculous, not Philip. Throughout the series, Philip is consistently portrayed as the most intelligent, charming, attractive, sophisticated and grown-up of all the characters, and he's certainly no deferential Uncle Tom. ... that's not racism, is it?

Another British sitcom classic, DAMP is hilarious and must be watched. Mr Rigsby (Leonard Rossiter) has an immortal desire for Miss Jones (Frances De La Tour) and through some 20 or more episodes makes endless attempts to seduce her. With many equally funny sub-plots, the actors' performances make DAMP one of the best performed comedies ever. A classic.