303 Rising Damp

First  viewed  : 1977

This  was  well  into  its  run  by   the  time  I  caught  it  but  it  was  one  of   ITV's  most  popular  comedies .

Leonard  Rossiter  was  the  appalling  Rigsby  , an  ignorant  scruffy  miser  clinging  to  the  sliver  of  respectability  attached  to  being  the  landlord  of  some  dingy  bedsits  in  Leeds. His  tenants,   , barring  fly-by-night  guest  stars , were  naive   medical  student  Alan  ( Richard  Beckinsale  playing  a  character  pretty  indistinguishable  from  Godber ) , educated  black  man  Philip  ( Don  Warrington )  and  self-deceiving  spinster  Miss  Jones  ( Frances  de  la  Tour ), a  minor  college  bureaucrat.

I  don't  remember  all  that  much  about  it  apart  from  being  rather  mystified, now  that  I  was  becoming  interested  in  such  things ,  by  why  Rigsby  should  be   so  avidly   pursuing  Miss  Jones . The  skinny,  horse-faced  de  la  Tour  must  be  the  least  attractive  woman  ever  cast  in  a  sex  object  role, comedy  or  not.

The  series  ended  in  1978  but  a  feature  film  was  made  in  1980. In  the   time  between  them    of  course  Beckinsale  had  died  of  a  heart  attack  at  the  shockingly  early  age  of  31   and  his  part  went  to  Christopher  Strauli  playing  a  slightly  different  character.  Rossiter   died  in  1984, itself  a  shock  as  the  57  year  old  maintained  a  rigorous  fitness  regime. De  la  Tour  is  still  a  busy  actress  with  awards  for  work  both  on  screen  and  on  stage. Warrington,  the  youngest  cast  member,  had  variable  fortunes  in  the  next  couple  of  decades , landing  regular  roles  in  Triangle, C.A.T.S. Eyes  and  Grange  Hill   but  largely dropping  out  of  view  in  the  years   between  them. In  this  millennium,  he's  been  much  more  visible  with  appearances  on  Grumpy  Old  Men  and  Strictly  Come  Dancing   alongside  a  steady  stream  of  acting  work.