Of course they both feature the great Richard Beckinsale but when it comes to the crunch I have to go for Porridge more for the larger cast of characters than anything else. And you.

This is the most difficult poll I have encountered on this site. I'll spend all dday thinking about this one. Can't can't can't decide

Norman Stanley Fletcher gets my vote :)

Gaz gets first dibs on my snout for that :D

Rising Damp more poignant, Porridge slightly funnier...though it could be the other way round. Give me The Rise And Fall Of Reginald Perrin for a tie-breaker.

I didn't get where I am today without choosing Rigsby.Would be Lothario,schemer & all round loser.And the face.The nose,the teeth. :)

Finally reached a decision on this on. Rigsby by a nose. Goodnight Vienna.

An old friend of mine has the sir name Rossiter and her younger sister is called Vienna.

Excellent poll! Porridge by a whisker..I liked its morallity...Fletcher being a goodguy, but often just out for himself, but in a funny/just way (ie if it involved getting his own back on the nasty screw..whassisname?)

As usual with these things, the film they made of Porridge was very disappointing.

Ooh, a toughie! :confused:

NSF v. Rigsby :duel: I can watch both programmes over and over.

I've gone for Porridge, but the instant I hit the button I regretted it. Or do I?

AIEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!! I DON'T KNOW ^_^

Mr Mackay=Fulton Mackay

50/50 wouldn't have it any other way :applaud:

Porridge. Rossiter's career highlight (for me) was Reggie Perrin (and the chap in 2001).

I never liked Reggie Perrin, think it was too subtle for me at the time. Probabley still is. my parents never watched it as they probabley couldn't connect with the upper middle class setting so we never got to watch it. I should check it out though next rerun. Whats the chap? Never heard of it? how did Rossiter come back from the grave. :devil:

Anyone seen today's (24/8/05) Sun newspaper? RIGSBY is to be resurrected for an advert to celebrate ITV.Bit of a weird coincidence I think.Although I'm sure somebody will point out the odds of such a thing.

Rising Damp, am more familiar with it having bought the boxset last year. But Porridge is excellent too.
Reggie Perrin - subtle? I think not... more of a story arc, and more plot-orientated, but the humour could hardly be called subtle. Great series though... I find the last episode of the 3rd series deeply depressing though :(

Very strong supporting characters too in "Reginald Perrin"- very funny series though.

Rising Damp.

Leonard Rossiter was a genius.

I guess Ronnie was too, but I prefer Mr Rossiter.

Reggie Perrin was great stuff too. :)

I believe Rising Damp is the true classic, perfect in just about every way. Rossiter becomes Rigsby in a way that goes beyond mere (even great) acting, and the other main stars are all wonderful. And the writing is incredible, of course - the jokes are all they could be and the incidental characters all stand up to examination.

I think one of the reasons it is sometimes not remembered quite so readily is that when it started it was placed bedly in the schedules with very little publicity, and so never really had 'impact' value in the way that other shows have.

It was rare at the time (and still is, really) for something to deal so well with issues like race, class, education, depression, wealth, sex and age yey still be so funny without being corny. It was very rooted in reality, the ideas were never too fantastical to be believed.

There's a pretty good book by Richard Webber, called 'Rising Damp: A Celebration'.

HMV often have the boxset for around £20, it's well worth getting.

Rising Damp by a mile. I thought Porridge was really a bit of a conventional (but superior) sitcom, just in an unconventional setting, which was welcome in itself. But Rising Damp (at least barring the inevitably poorer later series) was brilliantly written, brilliantly acted and deliciously off-kilter without being plain daft. And most shocking of all, it was on ITV!

I found Reggie Perrin plodding, contrived tosh and hated every tedious moment of it. But Rossiter already had his comic masterpiece under his belt, so it's small potatoes.

I think it's bloody wonderful

"Perrin here on green" :lol: :lol: :lol:

Both brilliant, but Porridge has the edge, better acting and writing just. Porridge is my all time fav sitcom.

Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads trumps both- but Porridge- I think- edges out the wonderful Rising Damp.

Very tough call, but 'Rising Damp' gets it, only if for the fact that (as already mentioned) it operated on several levels, whereas 'Porridge' was great, but very one dimensional.

Dunno why, but never, ever got into that for some reason - could never sit through a full episode.

First series waa a masterpiece, but it think it slipped quickly. I still think it runs Rising Damp a respectable 2nd. Actually I suppose there's quite a parallel between Terry and Rigsby, both slightly seedy failures. Fletcher was somehow comfortable in his environment, as maybe he had to be to make it enjoyable.

@ Joseph Holt - Probably Brigit Forsythes voice...


Porridge slightly ahead of R.D, I used to find it slightly depressing for some reason, but they both have gorgeous Richard Beckinsale, which can't be bad..

Porridge by a country mile. Fletcher's character is brilliantly played by Ronnie, and achieves the difficult task of showing the lighter and more humourous side of prison. I love the interplay between Fletcher and Mackay. The series hasn't dated in my opinion and it still brings a smile. :)

Rising Damp took me a while to get into, and although original and hilarious, is not quite enough to match Porridge.

Rossiter was obviously very talented, and like some others on this thread, I loved Rise and Fall of Reginald Perrin. CJ's "I didn't get where I am today by......" is still often quoted as there's a girl at work called Cijai :lol: , and although completely ludicrous, I loved the idea of GROT!

Tough choice. Voted for Porridge in the end.

Whilst all the other girls in my class had crushes on Gary and co. from Take That I used to fancy Richard Beckinsale.

Not a huge fan of either but I guess Porridge would pip the post. I have a friend who, when pissed, has a very irritating habit of quoting the entire monologue at the beginning of Porridge - "Norman Stanley Fletcher, I sentence you......". It's suprising how long it goes on when someone is shouting it in your face.

Rising Damp was just cliches, wasn't it? There was just something about Ribgy that I found very unwholesome.

I loved The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin though. The book was even better; but probably not the best book to read straight after Uni as I did.

Nah. I never got the Richard Beckinsale thing me. It didn't help that he always played a mard get.

Hey, MES would be ideal for the role of Rigsby if they ever did a remake.
Ben could be Alan, Elenor Ms Jones, not sure about Philip though.

Well comedy works well with cliche's doesn't it. But its what you do with them is'nt it. What and who you wrap them up in. If you want cliched cliche's then look no further than Mind your Language or that nauseous balderdash that was Love thy neighbour. Gawd help us they dont come much more unwholesome than Jim Davidson do they.

I strongley suggest Morrissey for this role. He's available

I know what you mean- but "failures"?- they were both happily trenchant within their worlds; happy/bitter but somehow fully realised and comfortable. Modern characters don't have that certainty. I think Terry and Rigsby-for all their faults have a bit of glory to them.

They just don't make 'em like that any more.

"Are you a practising homosexual?"

"What with these feet."

Ronnie and Porridge for me which they have recently started showing again on UKTV in Oz. Rigsby is right up there but just falls short of the mark.

Wasn't it, "Going Straight" that was a follow up to Porridge once Fletch got out? I remember that being pretty poor.

Don't get me wrong, they're heroes - maybe losers rather than failures, but great characters, the pair of them.

That's right, I suppose they had to let him out some time, otherwise we'd have thought his past was dodgier than he'd been letting on. Sitcoms never seem to relocate well. I think setting the first Whatever Happened To on the train from London was a masterstroke, introducing the characters before their domestic set-up. But that's harder in a prison, and Rigsby's house was one of the stars of Rising Damp.

Was Rising Damp the only classic comedy that ITV ever produced?

New Statesman is the other, but maybe too fringe to count as a true sitcom. I enjoyed Hot Metal (anyone remember it? 80s precursor to Drop the Dead Donkey, and for my money far superior), they managed a few good things in that Sunday late spot (Whoops Apocalypse, Spitting Image). But generally the channel's been pretty useless, blandness being a better way to keep the advertisers' money coming.