Quote: Aaron @ March 4 2009, 7:10 PM GMTIt's certainly not somewhere that a significant amount of people are aware of. If I didn't have a TV guide on my computer then I certainly wouldn't know about it. Not exactly publicised much, is it?
ITV3 is one of the most popular non-terrestrial channels, along with ITV2 (and BBC Three).
My point was that you can fairly easily track down 'Rising Damp' if you so wish, which can't be said for a lot of other excellent sitcoms of the past.
It's not as if repeats of Fawlty Towers get much advertising time either!
Anyway, have this:
Miss Jones and Alan came out a bit shonky but it looks like Leonard Rossiter would have made an excellent Han Solo.
I always think of Aaron as a bit of a Rigsby. He thinks he's one class but is quite clearly another.
Aaron has no illusions as to what class he's in; he merely aspires to be higher.
I do feel that Lenard Rossiter doesn't get enough appreciation for how much better he was than any other sitcom actor. Hopefully with the credit crunch ITV might realise that they have no choice but to reuse their classic back catalogue and so give an airing on ITV1 so maybe it can gain a bigger cult audience. Some of the jokes are outdated but nontheless the themes and the character of Rigsby are timeless hence it is still more relevant to today than ninety percent of modern day sitcoms.
I was lucky enough to see the original stage play at the Hampstead Theatre Club.
'The Banana Box'
17 May - 16 June 1973, Hampstead Theatre Club, London
Rooksby: Leonard Rossiter
Noel Parker: Paul Jones (ex-Manfred Mann group)
Philip Smith: Don Warrington (Kenco ads now!)
Ruth Jones: Frances de la Tour
Lucy: Elizabeth Adare (ex-'The Tomorrow People')
For the TV series:
'Rooksby' - became 'Rigsby'
'Noel Parker' / Paul Jones - became 'Alan Moore' /Richard Beckinsale.
One of the funniest stage plays I've ever seen.
http://www.leonardrossiter.com/risingdamp/StoryPlay.html
Quote: Morrace @ March 5 2009, 11:58 PM GMTI was lucky enough to see the original stage play at the Hampstead Theatre Club.
Oh you l- ...!
*shakes fist in jealousy*
Where was the house in the TV series? I do not believe that a town or city was ever mentioned, although Rigsby did mention the wind coming straight off the Pennines.
The house in the feature film, although no location was mentioned was in London. You can tell this as there is a newsagents in the film advertising the Evening Standard.
Somebody did a floor plan for the flat in Only Fools and Horses. Has one ever been done for Rising Damp?
There were the two students on the top floor.
Miss Jones directly below.
Then was it Rigsby on the ground floor?
What floor was the wrestler and the not so successful actor on?
The feature film which used a real house had sinks by the stairways. This was common in a lot of multiple occupancy properties and disappeared around a similar time as the outside toilet.
Quote: vim1 @ March 7 2009, 8:08 PM GMTWhere was the house in the TV series? I do not believe that a town or city was ever mentioned, although Rigsby did mention the wind coming straight off the Pennines.
The house in the feature film, although no location was mentioned was in London. You can tell this as there is a newsagents in the film advertising the Evening Standard.
Somebody did a floor plan for the flat in Only Fools and Horses. Has one ever been done for Rising Damp?
There were the two students on the top floor.
Miss Jones directly below.
Then was it Rigsby on the ground floor?
What floor was the wrestler and the not so successful actor on?
The feature film which used a real house had sinks by the stairways. This was common in a lot of multiple occupancy properties and disappeared around a similar time as the outside toilet.
The location is a university town in or near Yorkshire, probably Leeds or Sheffield. Rigsy is on the ground floor (as seen in the "Great Expectations" episode) and Miss Jones is on the second floor. Spooner the Wrestler's room was on the second floor too, and as the room looked the same when Peter Bowles' character Hilary was there, I would say it was the same one. The room was seen again in the episodes as Maraylyn's room in "Fawcett's Python" and Osbourne's room in "Under the Influence". Seymour stayed in a room opposite Alan and Phillip's in the episode "The Perfect Gentlemen".
And Rigsy said the wind was coming from the Urals, not the Pennines.
I'm sure it was set in Birmingham. Not just because of Beckinsale and Rossiter's accents but I think there was some reference to it in one of the scripts.
I wonder if the script to the original stage play is available anywhere. A long shot, I guess.
Edited by Aaron.
Quote: Ronnie Anderson @ March 8 2009, 12:43 PM GMTI wonder if the script to the original stage play is available anywhere. A long shot, I guess.
Something else that not many people may be aware of was concerning the door in the credits.
The door handle appears to have been removed, the key hole blocked up and something placed against the hinges, all of which to prevent opening.
Around the time that Rising Damp was first transmitted I remember seeing an item on Nationwide about a family who were trying to get re housed from a very old property. The environmental health department had confirmed it was a slum by condemning one of the rooms as unfit for human habitation. The door had been sealed in the same way as in Rising Damp.
Why they chose just the one room I do not know, I was in short trousers back then.
I don't agree with the idea of Rising Damp being set in Birmingham, I always felt it was more likely so be set in Manchester. There was mention of a train passing by in one episode of which Alan said it was from Macclesfield, perhaps a train buff could throw some light on the question?
Unless I'm very much mistaken, Macclesfield is between Birmingham and Manchester so it really could be either!
(Although far closer to Manchester, so more likely.)
I read that there was a Dutch version made shortly after the original set in a house in a part of Amsterdam that had seen better days.
If this is true, I wonder if any record of it still exists.
