Rising Damp creator Eric Chappell has died at the age of 88.
News of Chappell’s death was announced by Reece Dinsdale, star of the writer’s programme Home to Roost, on social media.
‘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.’
Chappell, who hailed from Grantham, Lincolnshire, launched his first play The Banana Box at the Hampstead Theatre Club in 1970 before moving to the West End three years later.
The play was then adapted to become Rising Damp, the hit series which was broadcast on ITV over four series from 1974 to 1978. It starred Leonard Rossiter, Frances de la Tour, Richard Beckinsale and Don Warrington.
Rising Damp went on to win the 1978 Bafta for best situation comedy and was adapted into a film released in 1980.
After enjoying success with the popular sitcom, Chappell later 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.
Paying tribute to the playwright, Fatherland author Robert Harris revealed his father had worked with Chappell at a print factory in Grantham and that they ‘used to swap stories about their sons’.
Harris said he ‘loved’ Rising Damp, adding Chappell ‘always sounded a really delightful man’.
