Rising Damp

- Season 1

(1974)

Landlord Rigsby shares his crumbling home with his cat Vienna and his two lodgers, amiable, shambling young medical student Alan and Miss Ruth Jones, welfare officer at Alan's college and the object of Rigsby's affection. When Ruth asks Rigsby to give her friend Philip a room, Rigsby is only too happy to please her though he is surprised to find that Philip, another student, is black and sees him - wrongly - as a rival for Ruth, who is actually pursuing Philip in vain. Consequently he tries to get rid of him but changes his mind after being told that Philip is an ...

Alan teases Rigsby by telling him that Philip has ten wives and can work black magic. Put to the test by Rigsby, Philip bangs a tribal spear on the floor in ritualistic fashion, which results in Ruth, believing it to be a sign that Philip wants her body, running into the room in her nightie. Soon afterwards Rigsby falls down on the stairs - another apparent result of magic. Alan also bangs the spear on the floor and again Ruth comes in but when Rigsby tries it there are answering knocks, courtesy of Philip and Alan, who are hiding, and are amused by Rigsby's reaction ...

It is Ruth's birthday and Rigsby plans to take her to up-market restaurant the Grange. When Alan and Philip tell him his dapper clothes are old-fashioned he borrows a tuxedo from another lodger Spooner, a violent wrestler, without asking his permission. At the Grange Rigsby expects Philip will have trouble getting in but in fact Philip has to vouch for Rigsby, whose efforts to woo Ruth go awry when he stamps on her false eye-lash, mistaking it for a spider. As the band strikes up a waltz Rigsby prepares to dazzle Ruth with his fancy foot-work but is prevented by the ...

Rigsby tries to woo Ruth with two free tickets to a wrestling match given him by Spooner but she is not keen so he turns to Alan and Philip for advice on how to capture her heart. They suggest he adopts a sophisticated persona, wear a medallion and play a romantic record. They also give him some tablets to relax him but he takes too many and falls asleep before he can declare himself to Ruth. As a second plan Philip tells him of an African love rite whereby the suitor burns a piece of wood from the 'love tree' outside his sweetheart's hut. Rigsby approaches Ruth with ...

Spooner the wrestler has tripped over Rigsby's cat Vienna and is confined to his room with a broken leg. He plays his radio at full volume, annoying the other tenants and threatens Rigsby when he tells him to turn the noise down. Suddenly in nostalgic mood Rigsby gets his souvenirs from his service days in World War Two to show Philip and Alan, including his revolver, which goes off. Spooner pretends that Rigsby has killed him with it and plays dead, to have a joke at the landlord's expense. However it turns out that the bullet has actually killed Spooner's pet ...

Whilst calling the cat in, Rigsby hears Ruth scream. She has seen a prowler staring at her through the window. A policeman called Baker is soon on the scene and interviews the household, telling Rigsby to check that the money he keeps hidden under the floor-boards is still there, which Rigsby does, in Baker's presence. Only after Baker has gone and the real police arrive, does Rigsby discover that Baker was an impostor, who has stolen his money.

It's election time and true blue Rigsby will be voting Conservative whilst the boys are flying the flag for Labour. Ruth is a floating voter. All three candidates visit the house, Rigsby antagonizing the Labour man by suggesting that he is a homosexual with a Filipino house-boy whilst Ruth scares off the Liberal hopeful by making advances at him. Finally the Conservative candidate comes in and, after his dog has fouled the carpet, he tells Rigsby he plans to knock his house down, ultimately recognizing Rigsby as the man who was barred from the Conservative Club ...