Rising Damp star Don Warrington defends classic sitcom

Rising Damp Don Warrington, star of the sitcom, has spoken out against its use racial slurs.

The series, which ran from 1974 to 1978, featured Phillip, played by Warrington.

Talk to the Daily Telegraph, Warrington rejected the idea that the show should be edited for modern audiences: “No, because the show’s intentions were good.

Continue reading: BBC airs controversial ‘Fawlty Towers’ episode after cutting racist terms

“Sometimes it is necessary to be generous to gain a true view of things. And to understand that sometimes people were naïve in what they did.”

He stated that the show was not cynical to him. And because you had such fine actors involved, the standard of work was just so great.”

Rising Damp featured racial slurs and ignorant comments with the show’s lead Rupert Rigsby — played by Leonard Rossiter — shown to be a bigoted man, particularly towards Philip.

Warrington also praises the show for its portrayal of black people: “A lot of black people still say to me that their parents would call them down from their bedrooms whenever it was on, because of the way it showed a black man on TV who was not being put down or abused.”

In recent years, many older comedy shows were removed from streaming services or edited.

Episode of The Germans Fawlty Towers The show’s use racial slurs led to the show being removed from UKTV streaming.

Creators of series John Cleese Criticised the decision saying: “We weren’t supporting his views, but we were making fun.” What can they say if they don’t see it?

Later, the episode was restored with a warning.

Some other shows include Little Britain Bo Selecta and others were also removed from streaming because of their offensive content.