Writer Eric Chappell, the creator of sitcoms Rising Damp and Home to Roost, has died at the age of 88. The latter show’s star Reece Dinsdale revealed the news, expressing his gratitude for scripts that were “a complete joy to play”.
“Just heard that Eric Chappell, the writer of #HomeToRoost, #RisingDamp & many other shows died on Thursday,” Dinsdale tweeted. “Thank you for everything you did for me, Sir… your scripts were a complete joy to play. Great times! My love & deepest sympathies to his friends & family RIP Eric.”
Born in Grantham, Lincolnshire, in September 1933, Chappell worked as an auditor for the East Midlands Electricity Board for 22 years.
Several of his novels were rejected by publishers before he decided to become a playwright, with his Yorkshire-set play The Banana Box staged at the Hampstead Theatre Club in 1970 before moving to the West End three years later.
The play was adapted to become Rising Damp, which ITV broadcast over four series from 1974 to 1978 starring Leonard Rossiter, Frances de la Tour, Richard Beckinsale and Don Warrington. It won the 1978 Bafta for Best Situation Comedy and was adapted into a film released in 1980.
Chappell later wrote Home to Roost, which aired from 1985 to 1990 and starred John Thaw as a divorcee whose solitary life in London is interrupted by the arrival of his teenage son, played by Dinsdale. Fatherland author Robert Harris said his father had worked with Chappell’s at a print factory in Grantham and they “used to swap stories about their sons”.
Harris added he “loved” Rising Damp, adding Chappell “always sounded a really delightful man”.
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