Both great. But if you had to pick a favourite, who would it be?
Edited by zooo.
Rigsby or Reggie?
Rigsby for me.
Definitely Rigsby. Rossiter put on a masterclass in comic timing when he played the character. He was able to talk faster when playing Rigsby, because he was using his Scouse accent, rather than the more R.P.-accented Reggie.
That reminds me, years ago, when a mate of mine first moved out of his parents' house and into his first flat, there was a bloke who was about 10 years older than he and I, who lived above him, who was always coming down, knocking on his door and coming in. We used to call him Rigsby, because of this, and because he actually looked a bit like Rossiter.
Depends what you mean.
Rossiter put better acting talent into Rigsby, somehow making a fundamentally unlikeable character oddly charming. I don't know how much of it was the writing and how much of it was the performance but there's something very impressive about being able to look back at the episodes now and still see Rigsby as basically naively uneducated and ignorant instead of racist and bigotted -given the content of some of the plots revolving around Philip.
On the other hand, the Perrin character is one of my all-time favourite comedy characters. There's amazing depth there and he pretty much always manages to be unpredictable while never doing anything out of character, which is very impressive. I think Rossiter may have had an easier acting job (as you can see from Clunes making a reasonable fist of it - the character is still there in the writing but not done so well) but he really does do a perfect job of getting the manic nature of Perrin across so perhaps it is as well acted, just more subtly.
Or in other words - I enjoy Rossiter's performance more in Rising Damp but love the character of Perrin more than Rigsby.
Rigsby. No contest.
Quote: Marc P @ November 15 2011, 10:32 AM GMTRigsby. No contest.
Correct.
Quote: Lazzard @ November 15 2011, 12:04 PM GMTCorrect.
That ^
Rigsby is the better character, Reggie Perrin is the better series.
RIGSBY
Rigsby.
He didn't even have to say anything and he would still have you in stitches.
TBH, I think if anybody else had played Rigsby, Rising Damp might not have been the great show it was.
Quote: happychef @ November 15 2011, 1:25 PM GMTRigsby is the better character, Reggie Perrin is the better series.
Pretty much what I was about to write!
Rigsby, you can't beat class.
Rigsby.
Looks like I'm in the minority. I always loved Perrin but couldn't get into Rigsby. It just seemed a typical ITV comedy.
Quote: happychef @ November 15 2011, 1:25 PM GMTRigsby is the better character, Reggie Perrin is the better series.
I agree with this.