Rising Damp writer Eric Chappell dies aged 88
- Eric Chappell died on Thursday at the age of 88
- The writer is best known as the creator of Rising Damp
- His body of work also includes Duty Free, The Squirrels and The Bounder
Sitcom writer Eric Chappell has died. He was 88.
Most celebrated for his play The Banana Box, which was adapted for television as the critically acclaimed, landmark ITV sitcom Rising Damp, he wrote hundreds of hours of comedy for television and stage alike.
Born in September 1933 in Grantham, Lincolnshire, he died on Thursday, 21st April 2022.
Whilst Rising Damp - which starred Leonard Rossiter - propelled Chappell to both stardom and writing as a full-time career, he penned a further string of sitcom hits for ITV broadcasters, including the beloved holiday comedy Duty Free; father-son domestic sitcom Home To Roost; office comedy The Squirrels; and The Bounder, a sitcom of brotherly rivalry starring George Cole and Peter Bowles.
Reece Dinsdale, who starred alongside Keith Barron in Chappell's adaptation of Michael Green's Square Haggard stories, Haggard, and alongside John Thaw in Home To Roost, wrote on social media this afternoon: "Thank you for everything you did for me, Sir... your scripts were a complete joy to play."
Alongside more than 20 stage plays, Chappell penned other comedies such as Only When I Laugh, Singles, Natural Causes, Fiddlers Three and Misfits.