Rising Damp star Don Warrington amazed people are 'still enjoying it' over 50 years later
Rising Damp star Don Warrington says someone speaks to him about the 1970s sitcom every single week, despite it airing over 50 years ago.
Rising Damp star Don Warrington says there isn’t a week that goes by where someone doesn’t mention the classic sitcom to him.
The 75-year-old actor played suave tenant Philip Smith in the 1970s comedy, which starred Leonard Rossiter as tight-fisted landlord Rupert Rigsby and the late Richard Beckinsale as medical student Alan Moore.
The comedic scenes would often show the suave and well-read Philip, a second-generation British African from Croydon, frequently upsetting the sneering and ignorant Rigsby, who was jealous that the object of his affections, Miss Jones (Frances de la Tour), had a crush on Philip.
The sitcom is constantly repeated on television and is available to stream on ITVX, and Don is equally surprised and proud that it still has a loyal audience despite first airing over 50 years ago.
Speaking to BANG Showbiz, he said: “I’m amazed by it, actually. Because I think I’m a different person now. But people come up to me in the street and talk about it.
“I haven’t watched it in years, but people tell me that they’re still enjoying it and that’s good.”
But Don, who can now be seen in BBC detective series Death in Paradise, won’t spill on how much money he makes from the constant repeats.
When asked if he gets any residuals, he said: “I’m not prepared to discuss these things!”
Despite its enduring popularity, Rising Damp creator Eric Chappell says the show “appears to have been written by someone else, from another world” when he looks back on it now.
The ITV sitcom ran for four series from 1974 to 1978 and, due to its numerous jokes about race and class, it is aired with a warning that it contains offensive racist language that some viewers may find upsetting.
Eric insists the programme is of its time and accepts that some of the jokes are no longer acceptable when scrutinised through modern sensibilities.
In an interview with The Oldie magazine, he said: “As I look back at the show now, it appears to have been written by someone else, from another world. They couldn’t be written now and certainly not by me.”
Eric, whose other TV hits include The Bounder, Home to Roost and Singles, believes Rising Damp is still enjoyed by viewers because it contains hilarious story-driven episodes and also because the show didn’t continue beyond its sell-by date when it originally aired.
He said: “Why are they still being shown? Perhaps because we always tried to tell a story, and people never tire of stories and, as Len (Leonard Rossiter) used to say, ‘It’s funny Eric, leave it in.’
“I have been asked why we made only four series (lasting until 1978, with a 1980 film too) when the show was hugely popular.
“The reason is simple. Len and I didn’t come from theatrical backgrounds. He worked for years at an insurance company. I worked for years at the Electricity Board. We’d both had enough of long-running shows. We knew it was time to move on. What we didn’t know was that Rising Damp would become a little part of TV history.”
