Review of Very Best Of Rising Damp, The

Introduction

Rigsby ( Leonard Rossiter) is the landlord of a dingy boarding house who finds great solace in starting arguments with his student tenants Alan (Richard Beckinsale) and Philip (Don Warrington) who live upstairs in their claustrophobic attic room. The inherently racist landlord longs to woo "Miss Jones" (Frances de la Tour) who lives in the bedsit below in Eric Chappel’s classic sitcom. Continually poking his nose into his lodger’s affairs Rigsby day to day events used to claim ratings of over 18 million viewers and remains a genuine classic of British comedy.

Charisma
Episode 2
20 Dec 74
Rigsby consults Alan and Philip on some ways to improve his love life and his chances with Miss Jones. A bit of Matt Monroe, a bag full of tablets and some ‘love wood’ is the answer.

The Perfect Gentlemen
Episode 5
5 Dec 75
An impressive new tenant dazzles Rigsby with his obvious good breeding and charming wit. The only problem is where has all Rigsby’s savings gone?

For The Man Who Has Everything
26 Dec 75
Its Christmas and all is quiet in the house. That is until Alan and Philip with their lady friends appear, thinking that the house is empty and they’re all alone. What is Rigsby going to say, and how is Rigsby going to explain why he is spending Christmas all alone?

Stage Struck
Episode 2
19 Apr 77
Rigsby decides to take up acting as a way of impressing Miss Jones after a new tenant casts Alan and Ruth as two lovers.

Come On In - The Water`s Lovely
Episode 6
9 May 78
Rigsby finally proposes to Miss Jones as his divorce becomes final. Will Miss Jones agree to marry him?

Video

Exactly as you would expect from a TV made series from the seventies. The picture framed at 4.3 is a little soft and it has that definitive 70’s subdued look about it, but altogether its not that bad a picture. Artifacts are kept to an absolute minimum considering it’s a single sided disk, and apart from a few flecks and a bit of grain this looks just as it did the last time you saw it on TV, less the interference from the aerial. I did notice an odd 1 frame that appeared to be black and white in one or two of the episodes though.
Strange….

Audio

A standard mono mix that although a bit flat and occasionally muffled does the job.
What did you expect, a 5.1 remix? :)

Features

None.

Conclusion

A half-decent disk here, with a good round up of episodes. Picture quality isn’t bad considering its age and the fact that it’s made for TV. Basically it’s exactly what you would expect from this sort of material. If you want to watch some classic British comedy than you could do far worse than get yourself a copy of this disk.