Eric Chapel, screenwriter for some of ITV’s most popular sitcoms, including Rising Damp, Only When I Laugh and Duty Free, has died at the age of 88.
His death was revealed by actor Reese Dinsdale, who co-starred with the late John Tau in the Chappell Home to Roost sitcom. Dinsdale wrote on Twitter: “Thank you for everything you have done for me, sir сър your scripts were a joy to play. Great times! “
Chapel was a prolific writer on theater and television, but his pinnacle was Rising Damp, described as the best ITV sitcom to date by Mark Lewison, author of the Radio Times Comedy Guide.
It took place between 1974 and 1978 and had a great central cast of four: Leonard Roster as a miser, a manic Rigsby landlord, Francis de la Tour as the dreamy romantic Miss Jones, Don Warrington as the kind Philip who claims to be the son of an African leader and Richard Beckinsale as the naive and good-natured medical student Alan.
Rising Damp regularly attracted an audience of 18 million. His many admirers include the Guardian’s film editor, Catherine Shoard, who wrote in 2009: “At its best, it can be compared to Beckett and Pinter.”
Last year, Chapel told the Guardian that he was concerned that Rigsby’s prejudice against Philip could be misinterpreted as something to be celebrated or imitated, as happened to Johnny Speight’s Alf Garnet.
The quality of what was written meant that it was not so. Chapel said he hoped he had “written an intelligent comedy about interracial relations.”
Jed Mercurio, the writer of Line of Duty, describes Chapel as “one of the greatest of all time.” His brilliant comedies have entertained millions, week after week, for decades. ”
Chappell was born in Grantham, Lincolnshire, in September 1933 and served as an auditor on the East Midlands Electricity Board for 22 years. After several of his novels were rejected by publishers, he decided to write plays, acknowledging that dialogue was his great skill.
In his first play, The Banana Box, which became Rising Damp, Wilfried Brambel – then known as Steptoe and his son – played Rigsby’s character on stage.
Chappell’s other credits in the sitcom include The Bounder, starring Peter Bowles, who died five weeks ago. It was written with Bowles in mind after the success of Only When I Laugh, in which Bowles, James Bolam, and Christopher Strawley participated as seemingly regular patients with hypochondria in the hospital, and Richard Wilson as their long-suffering consultant.
Tim Reed, creator and co-author of the BBC Car Share show, described Chapel as one of the greatest sitcom writers. “Worthy of a place among the greats for the creation of Rupert Rigsby himself,” he said. “But just laughing, often underestimated in my opinion, is not a bad sequel to Rising Damp. Hats off, sir. ”
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