Rising Damp

Rumour has it that somewhere deep in the rain forests of South America, there still exist undiscovered tribes of people completely cut off from civilization, untouched by technology, and oblivious to the existence of the great world beyond the waterfall. If this is so, then these people are quite possibly the only humans on the entire planet that have never stood with hands on hips, nodded their heads vigorously back and forth and uttered the line "Yes, Miss Jones." Certainly everyone else, however, has. Such is the legendary status of one miserly, prejudiced, scheming and generally unlikeable bed-sit landlord called Rigsby.

Rising Damp originated as a script for a stage play, The Banana Box, in 1970. It's author, Eric Chappell, was inspired by a newspaper article about a black man who had guested at a hotel for a year, pretending to be an African prince as a means of avoiding discrimination. The play enjoyed a short lived run in 1971, with Wilfred Brambell as landlord Rooksby, and again in 1973 where regular stars Leonard Rossiter, Don Warrington and Frances De La Tour were cast. It was on this final run that a Yorkshire Television executive was invited to see it, and recognised it's potential as sit-com material.

In 1974, The Banana Box became one of six sit-com pilot episodes commissioned by YTV, the others being Badger's Set, Brotherly Love, Slater's Day, You'll Never Walk Alone and Oh No, It's Selwyn Frogit! During production of The Banana Box, the title was deemed unsuitable and changed to Rising Damp (after a line from the script). Also, due to a complaint from a real Mr Rooksby, the lead character's name was altered to the more familiar Rigsby after a flick through the phone book.

Audience reaction to the pilot were deemed favourable enough for YTV to commission a series. In fact, the show ran to four series, a Christmas special and a successful feature film, winning multiple awards along the way.