UNDER THE INFLUENCE

CANTANKEROUS, greedy, disloyal and randy, the appalling Rigsby epitomised everything a tenant didn’t want in a landlord — but in Rising Damp, the character portrayed by Leonard Rossiter somehow became one of the most popular characters of the Seventies. Perhaps it was because whatever he tried to get away with — seducing Miss Jones (Frances de la Tour) or catching medical student Alan (Richard Beckinsale) breaking the rules — he was destined to fail.