It's one of the greatest comedy series of all time.
You what?
And an extraordinary tale that went from the stage to our screens.
The fact that it lives in people's imaginations is fantastic.
This is the story of the fab four of sitcom.
It is very well written,
but they've really kind of made the character leap off the page.
That's my trouble, I'm too modest. Don't forget me exceptional looks.
But what really went on between these walls?
Frances leaned over to me and said, "He doesn't want to kiss me".
Right.
Tonight, in Rising Damp Forever...
Crumpet, anyone?
..the secrets of life on set.
One, two, three.
He had her sacked and somebody had to come in
and learn the role in a day and a half and appear on screen.
I didn't know you were looking for that sort of a affinity in a woman. Of course, I am.
That and a decent pair of knockers.
We'll reunite the people who brought it to our screens.
Cheers!
And we'll find out what happened when Rigsby and co went to The Movies...
He said, "If it doesn't work now, it's gonna be your fault."
..as we chart the incredible rise and rise of a series
that just got better and better.
Every single time I see it, I howl,
proper, proper, proper howl with laughter.
(AUDIENCE LAUGHS)
I love it. Just thinking about it makes me smile.
After giving ITV its breakthrough comedy hit of 1974...
Oh, God! Ahh!
Ohh!
..a year later the cast of Rising Damp were brought back together
to do it all over again.
Bloody hell! (AUDIENCE LAUGHS)
There will be more adventures in store
for tight-fisted landlord Rigsby...
Watch your tongue.
..and his three tenants, students Alan and Philip...
How old were you when you er... when you first...?
On my 14th birthday.
Pphh... All I got was a bike.
..and lovelorn spinster and university administrator Miss Jones.
Are you all right for butter? (AUDIENCE LAUGHS)
Oh. Excuse me.
M-M-My name's Platt. I'm your Liberal candidate.
But alongside its regular cast of four,
Rising Damp also welcomed a host of other actors.
Those characters would soon become embroiled in the domestic dramas.
When you have people working together all the time,
they have their own rhythms, their own understanding,
so it's very good to have somebody fresh coming in
cos they have to think how their gonna react to this character etc,
so it worked very well.
(KNOCK ON DOOR)
Hello, I was looking for Philip.
Also, the show was so enormous that a lot of people thought
it was a great tribute to be invited onto Rising Damp.
Indeed, some of televisions best loved comedy actors were attracted
by a part in the show, including Andrew Sachs,
by then famous in Fawlty Towers.
Excuse me, my name is Snell.
Well, we've all got problems.
Comedian Les Dawson's sidekick Roy Barrowclough.
Do we hear the tinkle of ice cubes?
Perhaps a slice of lemon.
You wouldn't like a cherry as well, would you? Yes, I would.
And Peter Bowles who would soon get
his own starring role in To The Manor Born.
I'm going to kiss you in a way that you've never been kissed before.
But not every actor invited to join the gang
would make it past Leonard Rossiter into the final cut.
Len could sniff out a duff actor with no trouble at all.
I mean on one show, not mine,
I think they rehearsed for about three days,
and he just realised that this woman, whoever the poor thing was,
wasn't gonna come up to his standards
and what he wanted on the show, and he had her sacked.
And somebody else had to come in and learn the role in a day and a half
and appear on screen, so he knew exactly what he wanted
and 99 times out of 100 he was exactly right.
Hello, Darling. Hello, pet.
One actress who did meet with Rossiter's approval was Helen Fraser.
Sometimes I think you're avoiding me, you know, Billy.
The pair both had roles in the 1963 movie Billy Liar.
Too much laxity. Far too much laxity.
I knew him from the film It's Mr Shadrack.
And then I heard that this Rising Damp had got sort of started
and I thought, "Perhaps I'll be in it',
but it was nothing to do with Len, it came through agents and casting,
but he was so pleased to see me.
(KNOCK ON DOOR)
Mr Rigsby. Yes, that's right, yes.
I'm so glad to pop in with this. I think it's a Christmas card.
I watched it the other night.
Somebody found it for me on YouTube. Who's that little girl?
I loved my uniform, my post mistress's uniform - I loved that.
Oh. Oh, goodness me. What?
We appear to be standing under the mistletoe, look. Are we?
You can't quarrel with fate, eh?
Oh, Mr Rigsby, I'm in uniform. It's all right, I don't mind
Mr Rigsby, please.
I must have watched it at the time,
but, yes, I got more pleasure watching it last week
cos I said, "Did I do that? Did I look like that? Did I?"
It's a long time ago. (LAUGHS)
I'm sorry. It could have been your lucky day, that's all.
Meanwhile, actress Judy Buxton joined the cast of Rising Damp in 1977.
You certainly kept this a big secret.
'I remember that outfit.'
I'd begun to wonder if you got one.
And he's snazzy. Ha ha!
Perhaps best known for her role as Nurse Katie Shaw in General Hospital,
she was first cast as Alan's girlfriend
in an episode called Clunk Click.
Coming into a well established series like Rising Damp,
it was quite scary and especially meeting up with Leonard,
cos he was, I found, a bit naughty at the time.
I remember being nervous about this bit, starting a car up.
Ooh! It's scary. (REVS ENGINE)
Ha ha ha!
I'll just go and ring Mummy.
I've just remembered that now.
Judy Buxton impressed a choosy co-star Rossiter so much
that he suggested she return
to play the same character in another episode.
When we started rehearsing Clunk Click,
Leonard had obviously read the scripts for the rest of that series,
and he said to me, he said,
"In two episodes time, there's another girlfriend
for Richard Beckinsale's character, Alan.
She comes in and I think it seems silly that you don't do that."
So I'd now got two episodes of Rising Damp
and it was a bigger part than the one I played in the first one.
Obviously, I did something right
for him to want me to be in the other one as well.
Comfortable, darling?
No, I'm sitting on a spring.
Richard was wonderful to work with and very, very funny.
He made me laugh a lot.
Well, go and sit on the bed. No, Mummy wouldn't like it.
I wasn't thinking of asking Mummy.
Alan. Oh, Karen.
I'd forgotten I'd had a little kiss with him.
Mm. Oh, Alan.
What? I've landed on something sticky.
Oh, dear. Oh, just look at it.
Here we go, green knickers.
Ha ha ha!
Crumpet, anyone?
Scenes like these were filmed here
at Yorkshire Television Studios in Leeds.
Today, for the first time in nearly 40 years,
Don Warrington is back in the city to visit the studios
where he shot to fame as Philip.
Five, four, three, two, one.
In the 1970s, this was one
of television's leading lights in entertainment.
And the cast of Yorkshire's new hit sitcom shared the canteen
with some of the biggest names in music and comedy.
I remember meeting Les Dawson, a very funny man.
We would sit with him and he'd just tell me lots of jokes,
which was very funny and made me laugh.
The kitchen was run by ferocious Yorkshire women,
and you weren't allowed to get away with anything.
It doesn't matter who you were,
you waited in the queue and crossed them at your peril.
But underneath it, they were warm and lovely people.
And sometimes if they liked you, you could get extra chips.
While the days of comedy and light entertainment here are long gone,
today, much of the main building remains the same.
Now occupied by the cast and crew of Emmerdale,
the dressing rooms and makeup rooms
are largely as they were when Rising Damp was in town.
This is where I came for them to put on my scars.
Hey, hey, did you hear that? Did you see that mark on his cheek?
Initiation ceremony.
That's no different from the Germans and their duelling scars.
He didn't get that in Heidelberg!
I think it was this cheek. That was the nature of the scars,
they'd move from cheek to cheek.
I didn't recognise him, did you? No, it must be the suit.
I've never seen you in a suit before Rigsby. Have you had a bereavement?
Yorkshire Television's wardrobe department was once home
to Rigsby's famously threadbare cardigan and frayed shirts.
But Don Warrington's costumes were considerably more upmarket.
All my clothes were bought in London,
and what I remember is going shopping
with the wardrobe supervisor,
which was a very, very happy experience, indeed,
because we went to a very exclusive shop in South Molton Street,
a shop called Browns.
When we arrived, they would have all these clothes laid out
for us to pick and choose from.
It was a delicious experience, really.
I felt really really pampered.
And Philip wore some very beautiful clothes, which I later claimed,
so his wardrobe became my wardrobe.
By the end of 1977, Rising Damp had run for three series
and hit new comedy heights.
Cut the robe. Cut the robe.
No. Grab him.
Understandably, ITV still wanted more,
but could it really return without one of its stars?
I don't think this acting really is my cup of tea
and I don't really think I'm cut out for it.
Richard didn't approve of Alan and didn't approve of the part.
1978 and just four years since the start of Rising Damp,
a very different Britain had emerged.
The worlds' first IVF baby Louise Brown was born in Oldham,
and Anna Ford became the first female newscaster on News At Ten.
Meanwhile, Rising Damp was making headlines of its own,
picking up a BAFTA for Best Situation Comedy.
Oh, my God, it's got me!
A new series had been commissioned by ITV,
but would Richard Beckinsale,
by now leading the way in a new generation of sitcom stars,
still be part of the gang?
I've decided to change me image, I've been neglecting myself.
He was, I think quite frustrated by everyone thinking
that he was very much like the characters he played
and that he played himself all the time, which he really didn't.
But because he made it seemed so effortless and so natural,
I think people thought that he was turning up and being himself.
No, it isn't easy. It takes a lot of practice.
Richard didn't approve of Alan and didn't approve of the part.
He said, "I'm over 30 and I'm still playing these virginal young men".
I haven't trifled with Miss Jones's feelings.
I haven't trifled with anybody's feelings.
What do you mean? You mean, there's never been any coloured lights,
no sea crashing up against the rocks?
No, never, ever, never.
You're a member of the British society.
You're supposed to know where the erogenous regions are.
I know where the Himalayas are, but I've never been up 'em.
And I said, "Richard, there'll be a day come when you'll be able
to play this older part and you're lucky to be able
to play him as young as this."
Keen to broaden his range,
Beckinsale took on the lead role in the West End play I Love My Wife.
The fourth series of Rising Damp moved into production without him,
but could it retain its magic?
If anything, series four was the best we'd done.
By that stage, we knew the characters very, very well,
and we were very comfortable working with each other.
And I think we achieved in that series a kind of intimacy
simply because of of having three rather than four,
so in that sense we didn't miss him.
At the helm of the latest series with that scaled-down cast
was new Director, Vernon Lawrence.
The first three series were produced and directed by Ronnie Baxter
who was an extremely experienced director,
but he didn't get on particularly well with artists.
So Len would not do any more shows,
and so it was decided that Ronnie should move on to other things
and I was brought in to take over, which was a bit breathtaking for me
because you don't want to inherit somebody else's success.
And Ronnie had certainly had a major success with it.
Eeh!
These cat hairs get everywhere.
If you don't stop moulting, I'm going to give you a coat of varnish.
And don't look at me like that. No-one's indispensable.
If you're not careful, you might be replaced by a blue Persian,
someone more in keeping with my status.
Good morning, Mr Rigsby. My, we do look smart this morning. Thank you.
Eric used to have to write about another five to ten pages
because of Len's speed at which he spoke
and his enthusiasm and eagerness for it all.
I've come to see Mr Rigsby
regarding the estate of his late Uncle George Rigsby.
You mean he's been left something?
Yes, he gets the residue of the estate.
Is it much? Oh, it's a considerable sum.
What would you call a considerable sum?
Well, a figure not un-adjacent to £50,000.
Whoo-hoo-hoo!
Rigsby's in the money!
Vernon was wonderful to work with
because he just sat there, watching him and laughing,
and he simply pointed the camera where he saw the humour taking place
and that was lovely for us.
That's the condition, you see. I see yes, yes.
You also should be happily married.
You what?
While the series was filmed in Leeds,
rehearsals for the actors, who all lived in London,
took place here at the Sulgrave Boys' Club in Shepherds Bush.
Rising Damp started with a read through on a Sunday afternoon.
Rehearsals proper started on a Monday.
We rehearsed Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday
up until lunchtime each day.
On Thursday afternoons, the cast would travel up to Leeds.
During that day, the set had been put in to the studio,
so we assembled in the studio at seven o'clock
and we did a run through for the cameras.
And then we started rehearsals in the studio on Friday morning
culminating with a show in front of an audience
at 7:30 on a Friday evening.
YTV, Rising Damp, part one, take one.
With the recording about to start,
Vernon Lawrence would take his place in the gallery
alongside production assistant Ellie Hurst.
Lovely to see you. Are you well?
I am. You look wonderful.
There was a tremendous buzz.
I joined in '69 and left in '79,
and that ten years was incredible for programme making.
You mean, you want me to impersonate your wife, Mr Rigsby?
It's only for a few hours, Miss Jones.
I couldn't do it. It would be wrong it would be illegal.
You're supposed to be happily married.
We are. She lives in Cleethorpes, I live here. Well, I'm sorry.
The biggest problem, really, for the actors was
that when they went in front of an audience,
they weren't guaranteed of something
that Ellie and I laughed like drains at throughout the week.
The audience might sit there in stone cold silence
and not think it's funny at all.
On the other hand, something that we had just thought was mildly amusing,
the audience might laugh like drains, so you never really knew.
What was she like? What was she like?
She was erm... Well, it's difficult to describe, really.
She was er... The exact word evades me.
You must remember. Now, don't be horrible.
Horrible, that's it.
The gallery was always the domain of the Director and the PA,
but Don Warrington has been granted special permission to join them.
Dear heart. Hello, Vernon? Lovely to see you.
Wonderful to see you.
Now, while you were working hard downstairs,
this is where we had our parties.
It was incredibly relaxing.
Oh, good, because it wasn't downstairs.
Of course it was.
We used to wait downstairs
and we'd hear the floor manager say, "Vernon's coming down".
You didn't feel nervous? Well, a little nervous.
You didn't feel as though your career was threatened in any way?
There were moments, Vernon, when I thought,
"Am I going to survive this?"
But while the fourth series of Rising Damp was in production in Leeds,
elsewhere its former star Richard Beckinsale
was embarking on new ventures.
(WHISTLES) Get in, sport.
Longing to be taken seriously as an actor,
In 1977, he jumped at the chance
of appearing in the ITV drama Last Summer.
I was making a film about a car thief
and we started off with one actor and it turned out he couldn't drive
and didn't have a license, you know, all that nonsense,
and so he had to be replaced.
And Richard took over in our film and was dazzling.
Yeah, I look right. Part of the job, you know.
Yeah, I'm gonna get some new stuff Saturday.
Don't get it around here, it's mainly rubbish.
I usually go up west. Stanley Hanley's got some nice stuff.
He was top of the crumpet list,
which meant that he was very very talented and very, very beautiful.
I have had over the years quite a considerable number of women
who come up to me and say, "Oh ,I really fancied your dad.
I hope you don't mind me saying".
So, yeah, he was a big heartthrob.
He'd take you to one side, pull back his cheekbones and said,
"Look, one-sixteenth Burmese."
You could see what all the fuss was about.
But he was a very, very good actor.
Ahh! SShh!
It's only me.
But despite his good looks and acting ability,
Beckinsale was still struggling to emerge from the shadow of the sitcom.
He was quietly angry. He was angry that he'd...
Because he was a comic actor they didn't take him seriously.
Of course, he should have been at the National, playing leads.
I mean, I'd cast him in quite straight things,
so that was why I think he liked me so much.
Director and actor would work together again in 1979
in the gritty drama Bloody Kids.
I hope you don't lie as badly as that usually, constable.
It's the third time today you've forgotten, Williams.
I will not have slackness on my unit.
The former comedy star was finally starting
to establish himself as a serious actor,
but midway through a production of Bloody Kids tragedy struck.
Oh, let's go.
On the 19th of March, 1979,
Richard Beckinsale died of a massive heart attack.
He was just 31.
It was later discovered he'd suffered
from an undetected congenital heart problem.
I was filming a scene in a night club in Southend.
I can remember the man coming down telling me that he'd died.
Richard's role was recast,
but to this day the director still misses his leading man.
Every time I see bits of the film, there are shots I think,
"Oh, Richard's behind that door,"
and then another actor, of course, comes through.
Awful. It shouldn't happen to anyone.
Hello. Welcome to Bleak House.
Mind if I come in for a warm?
I'm Alan Moore, I live upstairs.
Philip Smith. How do you do?
I was walking home and a car went passed me in the street,
and somebody shouted out, "Oi, your mate's dead."
I had no idea what they were talking about.
And I went home and I put on the six o'clock news and up it came.
It was really, really, really shocking.
Sam and Kate Beckinsale were aged just twelve and five
when they lost their dad.
I mean, it sucks having your parent die that young.
He is always the Beckinsale that's really important
and I'm really happy about that.
Like, I love it when I'm in Marks and Spencer's
and someone says "Excuse me,"
and I know in England it's going to be, "I really loved your dad."
I know it's going to be that and I'm really happy and grateful
that people remember him and that I get to enjoy how loved he was.
It's a bit like sitting down and watching home movies,
but it's not home movies and it's not the real person,
so there's an element of it being quite surreal.
But you do get glimpses of the real person,
and to have anything that keeps their spirit going,
that is quite special.
And if you have no objection, Miss Jones, I will sit adjacent.
At its peak, Rising Damp had been watched by 18 million people,
a third of the population.
My word, that's a big one.
But on the May 9th, 1978, the last ever episode Damp was shown.
It seemed its journey from stage to screen was finally over.
And we were told that four series was enough.
After that you become a cliche and I think that was true.
I think they felt we made our mark with it,
and them wanting to move on to other things, and so did I.
We all wanted it to end.
In those days, you didn't want things to last,
you wanted to go off and do other things
because I thought then that was the way to learn.
It was a clear-cut decision,
not because we thought the show wasn't working,
we were nervous that if we kept going people would get fed up.
That was probably the truth.
Ta-da-da-dah! Ho ho ho, it's arrived.
What has? My decree absolute.
Ho ho ho! Congratulations, Rigsby.
Over 15 million tuned in to watch the show's final episode,
in which Rigsby's divorce finally came through,
leaving him free to propose to his beloved Miss Jones.
I'm a fee man. After all these years, I'm free, eh? Ho ho ho.
Now you're free, what are you going to do?
Get married. Of course.
It's gonna be different. I'm going to ask Miss Jones.
I wound it up by saying, "Right, this is when she says yes."
I never believed that.
I don't think Len believed it and I don't think Frances believed
that she'd ever say to him, "Yes, I'll marry you."
I came this evening with the ridiculous idea
of asking you to marry me.
I know you weren't expecting it and it's preposterous, but that is it.
Will you marry me? What is your answer to that?
Yes. Yes, exactly what I thought. I knew I'd wasted my time.
I suppose I'm not good enough. I don't want to see the ring again.
I knew you wouldn't accept me.
I always remember, I wrote on the stage direction, "And they kiss."
What did you say, Miss Jones? Would you say that again?
I said I will marry you.
And Len had started mucking about,
messing about with the stage directions.
And Frances leaned over to me and said, "He doesn't want to kiss me,"
and he never did.
Oh, Miss...Jones.
Mr Rigsby. Oh!
The ring! The ring.
But despite agreeing to tie the knot, in true disastrous Rising Damp style,
the pair never did make it down the aisle.
We went to the wrong church! Just get, get, get, the car.
You mean, you didn't even arrive?
Oh, yes, we definitely arrived. We're just a bit late, that's all.
You mean, I stood you up and you weren't even standing there?
How could you do this to me? No excuses.
It's supposed to be the best day of my life and you've ruined it!
Sorry, Miss Jones. Oh, take that.
The audience were going berserk.
It was very, very funny and very moving as well.
It was just a wonderful tie-up to a brilliant series.
Feel free. I will! There!
But although Rising Damp's life had ended in the small screen,
film producer Roy Skeggs realised
that the characters still had a future.
He believed that the comedy was perfect for the big screen,
having already had hits upsizing other sitcoms of the '70s.
The offer of the film was made and we thought why not
because we'd done everything else.
In July 1979, Rising Damp, The Movie, went into production,
and, like in the TV series,
featured Rigsby's desperate attempts to woo Miss Jones.
Indeed, many of its scenes would bear more than a passing resemblance
to what we'd already enjoyed on television.
I intended to cannibalise scripts and put in a few extra moments.
It wasn't anything we were particularly proud off,
having said that, but nevertheless we did it.
What would you do in my position, Philip? What?
No, I mean, what do they do in your country?
In my country, if a man was in your position,
he'd get the wood of the lavatory.
He would burn it outside the girl's house
and when she smelt the smoke she would appear at the door.
He'd look deep into her eyes and she would fall in love with him.
Just like that? Just like that.
The similarities made no difference to The Movie's director, Joe McGrath,
whose career CV included working with pop's fab four, The Beatles.
To tell the truth, I hadn't... I hadn't watched Rising Damp.
I'd never seen Rising Damp on television,
and I think that was a good thing
because I approached it completely as a motion picture.
Leonard Rossiter, Don Warrington and Frances de la Tour all signed up
for Rising Damp's big screen adventure,
but all three were still recovering from the death of Richard Beckinsale.
When we came to make the film,
it was a question of whether Len felt he could do it without Richard.
Len really loved Richard
and I think he decided to do it as a tribute to Richard.
Actor Christopher Strauli, best known for another ITV sitcom,
Only When I Laugh, was brought in to complete the foursome.
Crikey.
35 stitches in there, mate.
Richard Beckinsale was a friend of mine and we were at RADA together,
so my first reaction was, "Oh, dear, what a sad thought."
Then I thought about it and thought, "Well, someone's got to do it,
so I suppose it might as well be someone who knew Richard
and we were friends and it might as well be me."
A bit of soul searching to find out whether I really wanted to do it.
But Strauli soon found out
that filling Richard Beckinsale's shoes would be no easy task.
They had a party the night before the filming
and at this party I was introduced to Leonard, who said,
"Well, we know it works what we did before,
so if it doesn't work now, it's going to be your fault, isn't it?"
And that was the first sentence he said to me, bless him.
And it went on in that sort of tone from thence, really.
A rather difficult relationship we had.
Understandably, he wanted me to play it as Richard would have done,
which is what his timing's were all worked to and what he liked to do.
Look at this. Who is this well dressed stranger?
Could it be Count Dracula, popped in from the dead for a quick bite?
Why don't you give it a rest?
And for two reasons I couldn't do it like Richard did it
cos we're different characters
and I wanted to try and make it my own,
rather than try and do a copy of what Richard had done.
Good heavens, it's Count Dracula, dropped in for a quite bite.
Ah, give it a rest, why don't you?
So we were at loggerheads, I think it's fair to say,
throughout the film.
Heave! Phil!
The film's budget, a healthy £400,000...
Slip that card in your window.
..meant that the action could now leave the studio
and take place on location.
Most of the movie was filmed here in Notting Hill.
And today, director and actor
are back at the house they took over during filming.
It's you. No, it's me.
You're late as usual. Charming!
Listen, this is the place.
I know. Yeah. I'd forgotten all the steps, didn't you?
Hey. Hey.
Hey, hey, hey.
It all comes back to me now.
This was actually Rigsby's room. Yes.
And you could see Rigsby appeared in the first scene of the film
looking through that window.
My first scene was here with the car.
And Leonard cleaning his car, was it? It was exactly that, yes.
And it was by that tree.
Excuse me? Yeah.
I'm looking for a Mr Rigsby. Oh, yeah?
Does he live here? No, he'd be out this time of the day.
Who shall I say...? W-W-What do you want him for?
Well, he's advertising a room.
Oh, yes, that's right. Yes, yes, I am, yeah. Come in.
And is that the room where the ceiling had to come down?
Yes, that's the only bit of art direction that was built.
We had to build a false ceiling.
Let's drink to amore. A more what?
Love, Miss Jones. I don't know about that, Mr Rigsby.
And we actually had to build two or three false ceilings
in case we didn't get it on the first take,
but we got it on the first take. We did, didn't we? Yes.
A lot of mess, but great, yes. It was lovely, yeah.
Oh, mon petite, respondez, s'il vous plait!
Tonight, Miss Jones, the earth is going to shake!
It wasn't an easy house in which to work
because there was very little room.
We had a lot of climbing the stairs. Just the two sides.
A lot of the scenes were played with Rigsby running up and down stairs,
as he always did. Yes, indeed.
So we we really shot the, as I would say,
the excrement out of this house. Ha ha ha!
You know, we chose this place cos it was a slum
and now it's worth two million pounds.
(BOTH LAUGH)
Released in May 1980, despite its writer's misgivings,
Rising Damp, The Movie, proved a massive hit at the box office.
Rising Damp actually got Best Film Comedy Of The Year.
I got Best Director.
Leonard got a special award, a Peter Sellers Award For Comedy,
and Frances de la Tour Best Actress.
You can't do better than that.
It's all in a day's work for me.
With the release of Rising Damp, The Movie,
the story of Rupert Rigsby and his unfortunate tenants was finally over.
Its stars had become some of the most popular names in comedy,
but could they shake off the bedsits and fading wallpaper
and find bright new opportunities ahead?
Despite building a reputation
as one of Britain's finest classical actresses,
Frances de la Tour has struggled with the public's enduring memory
of her as Miss Jones.
Most recently, she's appeared in the Harry Potter movies
and in the IT sitcom Vicious.
Don Warrington's career flourished in the theatre.
In 2013, he returned to his comedy roots,
directing the stage version of Rising Damp.
Most recently, he's won plaudits
for his role in the BBC's series, Death in Paradise.
Thank you.
Miss Brevin, I do apologise. It's fine.
But what became of the show's leading man?
As one of Britain's most popular comedy actors,
Leonard Rossiter also starred in The Fall And Rise Of Reginald Perrin
and teamed up with Joan Collins to make millions of us laugh
in one of TV's best loved ad campaigns.
Oh, can't you just smell those Italian wines,
suffused with herbs and spices from four continents?
I'm being boring. Oops, sorry, sorry.
Getting your head down, sweetie? Jolly good idea.
In 1984, Leonard Rossiter took on the role
of supermarket boss Norman Tripper in another sitcom, Tripper's Day.
It was while working on this series
that he met a young actor called David John.
That autumn, Rossiter starred in Joe Orton's black comedy, Loot,
and brought in his young co-star to play opposite him.
Loot played to packed houses every night
at the West End's Lyric Theatre,
but the play would ultimately be remembered
for much more than just Leonard Rossiter's performance.
Today, David John is returning to the cast's local.
Hi, mate. Can I have a pint, please? A pint of bitter?
You know, I've got great memories of this pub.
When it's a good company and you're good mates, this is our social.
It's after the show, ten o'clock, half-ten,
we come in here and have a couple of pints.
And it was brought to such a sudden stop, you know,
so it's quite...quite sad... sad memories as well.
So, the last time I was here with Len was the night before he died.
And we were sat round and he did mention
that he didn't feel particularly good.
He felt a bit chesty and said "I'm only having one pint tonight,
and I'm going to have a little check-up tomorrow."
And the understudy was there, saying "Maybe I better check the book,"
and Len said "No, no, I've never been off in my career
and I'm not gonna start now, don't worry."
The next time I saw him was when he came off
after the first scene the next night,
where we had our normal evening. "How you doing?" "Yeah, fine."
And I said, "How was the check-up?"
He said, "Fine, no problems, I'm fit as a fiddle,"
and walked off to his dressing room.
I played my scene and then had to get back for a quick change,
so I ran back to my dressing room
and heard immediately that there was a problem
because Leonard hadn't appeared.
It was unheard of, you know. It wouldn't happen;
there must be a problem if he's not there.
And I could hear the stage manager calling him:
"To the stage immediately, Mr Rossiter. To the stage."
And there was no response.
So I kind of dropped everything and ran down to his dressing room
and found him in his chair, just sat still not breathing, just there.
And after maybe ten minutes, an ambulance took him off.
And I do remember seeing one of the doctors shake his head
and just think, "That's it."
Of all nights, Frances de la Tour was in the audience.
Now, when you think that she
and Leonard were not by any means friends
and she was actually there when it happened.
Life is very, very strange, you know.
Those are the two people you'd think would never be together,
you know, at any function, and, indeed, she was there.
'The actor Leonard Rossiter who died after collapsing
during a performance in the West End last night
is thought to have had a heart attack. He was 57.'
'"Leonard Rossiter," his friend said, "would appreciate the irony.
He died, playing the lead in a black comedy about death."'
'During last night's sell out performance he missed an entrance.
Staff found him slumped in his dressing room.
He was rushed to hospital, but doctors couldn't save him.'
It was utterly shocking because Len was so fit,
so on top of his game.
It was just a bolt from the blue.
He was a difficult man, I understand,
you know, for certain actors and stuff,
but I never found him difficult to work with.
But I knew how he felt about doing things.
Put them on, hit me on the chin as hard as you like.
I don't want too. Come on. I know what it is; I'm too likeable.
I respect him and he was a very good friend of mine,
and also a great actor, great actor.
You're gonna try and surprise me, but I'll surprise you at the speed -
No, I won't hear a word against him. I loved him. I just loved him.
And there is a lesson in timing. I just watched it the other night,
all those head turns, its just brilliant.
(LAUGHS)
You know.
You don't see acting like that much now. No.
My word, you're early. I couldn't wait.
Oh, thank you.
Oh, good heavens, how did you guess my favourite aperitif,
a dry martini, shaken not stirred?
Actually, it's a vodka and lemon. Is it?
He was a demanding man, but then again the rewards were so great.
There were one or two moments when he was magic,
and then when he was... showing Richard
how to behave in front of polite society
and how to enter a room, wonderful.
You enter a room, you're in.
You close the door, you wait for the conversation to die down,
you shoot your cuffs like that, you adjust them and leave it,
just visible, the diamond cufflinks,
that's when your beckoned to sit. Shall I sit?
You come over, its fingers on the trousers,
up, down to avoid any stiffness.
Just a casual throw of the leg over, like that,
with nonchalant ease and there you go.
And even to this day when I'm writing a show, a play,
I think what we need here is Leonard Rossiter.
Stay away, Mr Rigsby! Heh heh heh!
What are you going to do with that gateau? Push it in my face.
Over 28 classic episodes from 1974 to 1978,
Rising Damp served up the best of British comedy
into millions of our homes.
Push it in my face.
The series would be remade less successfully in America and Portugal.
Perhaps there was something about the world of the grotty bedsit
that just seemed too British.
Ahh!
Four decades on the studios
where the laughter once rang out from Rigsby and Co
is now home to another classic ITV series, Emmerdale.
But today they're playing host to a grand Rising Damp reunion.
Joining writer Eric Chappell, Actor Don Warrington,
Director Vernon Lawrence and Production Assistant Ellie Hurst,
are former runner John Heaton and floor manager Don Clayton.
There are a few ghosts in here now, aren't there?
It was that long wall, wasn't it, where...?
We're standing at the foot of the audience seating, really. Yeah.
You remember where the audience was, do you? Yeah.
I can't forget it. it was there.
Ah, there it was.
Because I had to do all those warm-ups, you know, terrifying.
(AUDIENCE LAUGHS)
You're not a company director, you're not early 40s,
you're not an accountant and you're not sophisticated.
Well, nobody's perfect.
It was a happy show, but it wasn't a happy rehearsal room
because we were all so serious about things.
I would wonder whether there was any jokes in the script at all.
Comedy is a very serious business.
The important thing is the end product. Yes.
I think it's also a question of who leads the line
and in this case it was Len Rossiter. Yes.
And Len was a very serious man about his comedy.
You must admit, this place has been lived in.
It looks as if it's been slept in.
Oh, that was Pink Carnations, was it?
Yeah, that's great. Well, I'm blowed.
It is Pink Carnations. This is in the bar where they met.
Yeah, well, there we are. Mr Rigsby.
Oh... Oh, Miss Jones.
Oh, you're not single, attractive, mid-20s, roguish smile, by chance?
You're not a company director, early 40s...?
Roguish smile? You've been reading Women's Own again.
And it ended up with Joan Sanderson, the wonderful Joan Sanderson. Yes.
And Len stepped back and said, "My God, you're ugly."
I'd like a word with you. Oh, there you are. About time, yeah.
Oh, cor blimey!
And he insulted her. She said, "I've never been so assaulted in my life."
Vulgar little man! I've never been so insulted in my life.
And he said... You should get out more.
Boom-boom! Thank you very much.
Oh, Miss Jones. That's him, the beast.
To Len. There we go.
It's been over 40 years
since Eric Chappell took The Banana Box from the stage to the screen.
What's going on? This is my room. I beg your pardon, this is my room.
(SNIGGERING)
You can be brothers. Or sisters, eh?
Is that all? Ooh, that's enough for you.
Despite the decades that have passed,
the characters and storylines remain as hilarious as ever.
(AUDIENCE LAUGHS)
And when the comedy worked, you just couldn't stop laughing.
You just couldn't get through the scene
because it was just... cos it was funny.
(AUDIENCE LAUGHS)
I remember being visited by a critic
and she said, "Do you know this is going to be a classic?"
And once you get that classic thing, no-one knocks you anymore.
"Oh, it's a classic, you know. Oh, it's a classic."
"He's all right, he's a classic."
So the critics put away their vitriol.
Fire. I think you need to cool off, Mr Rigsby.
And here's to Rising Damp.
Rising Damp. Cheers, cheers, cheers, cheers, cheers, cheers.
Do you reckon we've given Miss Jones a night to remember?
Do you know what? I still feel hungry.
So am I am. Do you fancy a bag of chips?
Plenty of vinegar? Lots of scallops?
Mushy peas. You're on.
It's your turn to pay. Go on.
(AUDIENCE APPLAUDS)
subtitles by Deluxe