My wife and I recently re watched this show after many years, and although it has all the markings of a great sit-com - hilarious story lines, superb acting etc - I really could not sit through more than a handful of episodes. The reason? It is just cringingly racist. Although Rigsby is supposed to be the bigot, I found myself inwardly cringing at some of De La Tour's and Beckinsale's lines too.I'm not an overly politically correct type of person - 'Till death do us part' is, in my opinion, a hilarious comedy and my personal favourite from this era is 'On the buses', a show which often featured jokes that could be described as questionable by todays standards.I can only think that a large proportion of the jokes in this show used racism as a replacement for good writing.

In light of the current Big Brother 'racist' furor raging in the UK right now, or quite frankly even with out it, it amazes me that no one ever comments on how blatantly condescending and racist the Rigby character was to Don Warrington's Philip. I remember on more than one occasion such 'choice' lines as (Rigsby to Philip): "What the hell would you know about that, it wasn't that long ago you lot were still running around half-naked with bones through your noses". Numerous other UK sitcoms were also marred with such bigoted, racist stereotyping such as Alf Garnett (Till Death Us Do Part) and the appalling Love Thy Neighbor's "Oi Sambo". Shame such talented writers and actors had to stoop so low for such cheap laughs.

'Rising Damp' was recently repeated on I.T.V.-1 in an afternoon slot, and some chump wrote an angry letter to 'Teletext', claiming that the show 'was axed due to its racist content'. Nobody bothered to correct him. 'Rising Damp' ran for four successful seasons in the '70's, only coming to an end because it had reached the end of its natural life. Yes, 'Rigsby' is ignorant when it comes to foreign cultures, but a racist? I think not. If he were, he'd never have tolerated Philip in his house, son of a chieftain or not. Besides, the complainant seems to have overlooked Frances De La Tour's wonderfully prissy 'Ruth', Don Warrington as the clever and charming Phillip, the late Richard Beckinsale as naive medical student 'Alan' and, of course, the magnificent, much-missed Leonard Rossiter as the seedy landlord 'Rigsby'. This superb cast, combined with the fabulous scripts by Eric Chappell, made 'Rising Damp' a classic, one that has not diminished with age. I pity those unable to appreciate its greatness.

There is an annoying tendency among certain people, especially in my country, to gain some sort of smug satisfaction from being able to say "Oh, I love British humour" as if this somehow gives them an air of intelligence and satisfaction. Now, while I have yet to see an American sitcom that matches the subtlety and sly humour of "Yes, Minister", or the sheer inventiveness of "The fast show", in the same breath brilliant American comedies like "MASH" and "Seinfeld" could simply not have been made in England.The aforegoing paragraph could easily have served as an introduction to a review of a truly abysmal British comedy like "Absolutely fabulous" as a means of illustrating my point, or even for a review of a silly comedy like "The Goodies" to lend credence to my contention that not all British humour is sophisticated. However, I have instead decided on a classic comedy of the Seventies, "Rising damp".The shows two stars, Leonard Rossiter and Richard Beckinsale are both deceased, the latter at a tragically young age. Rossiter is Rupert Rigsby (as far as I know his first name was only mentioned in the disappointing 1980 film version), the tightfisted and mean spirited owner of a lodging house. Beckinsale is Alan, a student boarder. The other cast members were Don Warrington and Frances de la Tour. de la Tour is Ruth Jones, an unhappy spinster with whom Rigsby is in lust, and Warrington is Philip, an African student lusted after in turn by Miss Jones.Most of the show's humour was derived by the witty and often biting dialogue, and kudos must go to the series' scriptwriters.Sadly, in keeping with British tradition only 27 episodes were ever made, despite the show running for years. Those 27 episodes, however, must be savoured.