"Rising Damp": The Complete Scripts

Rising Damp has become a much-loved institution in British TV and it's the remarkable writing talent of Eric Chappell that ensures the continuing success of the show. Rising Damp: The Complete Scripts celebrates exactly that - the writing that brought Rising Damp ITV's first best situation comedy BAFTA. Meet Rigsby, the miserly landlord with an inflated sense of his own importance made famous by the comic genius of Leonard Rossiter. His delapidated house is home to an ever-changing population of hapless tenants, and three long-standing and long-suffering, residents: Alan the student; Philip, the African Prince; and of course Miss Jones, the lonely spinster who becomes the unwilling recipient of Rigsby's affections. For the first time, the scripts from all four series of Rising Damp have been collected together. There's an introduction to the book by Eric Chappell, the award-winning creator of the show, in which he explains 'Our success was assured, as long as I didn't blow up'. And each individual script is introduced by show business writer Richard Webber. Rising Damp: The Complete Scripts is a pays tribute to what made the show one of the great British comedies of the twentieth century, a classic that continues to thrill audiences twenty-five years on. To read the scripts is to re-enter the world of Rising Damp, and it is certainly to laugh out loud.

About the Author :
Eric Chappell took up full-time writing in 1973 after his first stage play, The Banana Box, produced at the Apollo Theatre, London, was an instant success. It later inspired the classic comedy series Rising Damp, produced by Yorkshire Television. Rising Damp ran for four series from 1974 to 1978 and in its final year received the BAFTA Award for best situation comedy. In 1979 Eric's screen version won the Evening Standard Film Award for best comedy. Eric's other television successes include The Squirrels, The Bounder (both of which won him Pye TV awards), Only When I Laugh, Home to Roost and Duty Free, all for Yorkshire Television. Eric is married, has two children and lives in Grantham, Lincolnshire, voted the most boring place in England. This, he suggests, is why he has been able to get so much work done over the years, in all, over two hundred television comedy scripts and more than half a dozen stage plays. He is unquestionably one of the top writers of comedy in Britain. Richard Webber is a writer and journalist specialising in showbusiness and, in particular, classic comedy. He has contributed to a host of newspapers and magazines, including the Daily Express, The Mirror, Sunday Mirror, TV Times, The Lady, Yours, OK! My Weekly and Woman's Weekly. He is the author of several previous books about classic television programmes, including the bestselling The Complete A-Z of Dad's Army, for which he worked closely with David Croft and Jimmy Perry, the writers of the series. Richard lives in Somerset with his wife, Paula, and baby daughter, Hollie

Review :
For the first time the scripts from all four series of Rising Damp have been collected together. Introduction by Eric Chappell, the award-winning creator of the show, and showbusiness writer Richard Webber introduces every script.