Rising Damp: Series 1

Leonard Rossiter, whom PBS viewers may know best from his starring role in The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin, has a field day playing Rigsby, the snarling, smugly opinionated and hopelessly ignorant landlord of a rundown London boarding house, in this classic 1974-78 British TV comedy. In the seven episodes of the first season collected here, Rigsby continuously butts up against two of his tenants, likable long-haired medical student Alan (Richard Beckinsale) and smoothly knowledgeable African “prince” Philip (Don Warrington), while ineptly trying to ingratiate himself with a third, school administrator Ruth (Frances de la Tour), who he doesn't realize is besotted with Philip. Rigsby is like an English Archie Bunker (minus Edith), a rude, rough fellow whose blind bigotry is always his undoing—but Rossiter proves as able as Carroll O'Connor in making this sort of figure not only funny but somehow rather pitifully pathetic. The scripts by Eric Chappell at times show their age, but Rossiter is so ferociously fine that no Britcom aficionado should pass up Rising Damp (the title actually refers to the mildew-ridden top-floor flat which Alan and Philip share). DVD extras include production notes and a cast filmography. Highly recommended. (F. Swietek)