{"id":93604,"date":"2025-08-26T09:21:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-26T09:21:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/93604\/"},"modified":"2025-08-26T09:21:10","modified_gmt":"2025-08-26T09:21:10","slug":"award-winning-sitcom-slapped-with-trigger-warning-for-discriminatory-language-despite-show-creator-and-lead-star-launching-passionate-defence-of-series","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/93604\/","title":{"rendered":"Award-winning sitcom slapped with trigger warning for ‘discriminatory language’ – despite show creator and lead star launching passionate defence of series"},"content":{"rendered":"

An award-winning British sitcom has been slapped with trigger warnings for ‘discriminatory language’ – despite its stars and creator insisting the show was never offensive.<\/p>\n

ITV<\/a> has placed caution notices on all 28 episodes of Rising Damp, the 1970s comedy widely regarded as one of the best-loved sitcoms of its era.<\/p>\n

The alerts on its streaming service ITVX warn of ‘discriminatory language and attitudes,’ with one BAFTA-winning instalment carrying an additional note about ‘racial references that may offend’.<\/p>\n

The series starred Leonard Rossiter as Rupert Rigsby, a miserly and lecherous landlord presiding over a dilapidated Victorian boarding house.<\/p>\n

Running for four seasons between 1974 and 1978, it also featured Richard Beckinsale, Don Warrington and Frances de la Tour as the prim spinster Miss Jones.<\/p>\n

Much of the humour centred on Rigsby’s awkward interactions with his tenants, including Philip, played by Warrington, who once mischievously claimed to be the son of an African chief purely to unsettle his suspicious landlord.<\/p>\n

\"Award-winning <\/p>\n

Award-winning British sitcom Rising Damp has been slapped with trigger warnings for ‘discriminatory language’ (Pictured:\u00a0Leonard Rossiter as Rupert Rigsby)<\/p>\n

\"ITV <\/p>\n

ITV has placed caution notices on all 28 episodes of Rising Damp, widely regarded as one of the best-loved sitcoms of its era (Pictured:\u00a0Don Warrington, Leonard Rossiter and Richard Beckinsale<\/p>\n

While such scenes are now being flagged for modern audiences, Warrington has previously defended the programme from accusations of racism.<\/p>\n

Speaking in 2022, the Death in Paradise star said the sitcom should not be sanitised to fit today’s sensitivities because ‘its intentions were good’.<\/p>\n

He explained: ‘The show was never cynical… the standard of work was just so great.’<\/p>\n

Warrington, who is black, added: ‘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 wasn’t being put down or abused.’<\/p>\n

Series creator Eric Chappell also rejected claims that the comedy was harmful, insisting Rigsby was not written as a racist caricature.<\/p>\n

He said: ‘Rigsby was not a racist or a bigot, but he was prejudiced and suspicious of strangers.’<\/p>\n

The sitcom went on to win a BAFTA for Best Situation Comedy in 1978 and was later adapted into a feature film in 1980.<\/p>\n

Its legacy endured long after it left screens, ranking 27th in the BBC’s 2004 poll of the nation’s 100 best sitcoms – higher than any other ITV entry. The top spot was claimed by Only Fools and Horses.<\/p>\n

\"The <\/p>\n

The alerts on its streaming service ITVX warn of ‘discriminatory language and attitudes’ (Pictured:\u00a0Frances De La Tour and Leonard Rossiter)<\/p>\n

\"Much <\/p>\n

Much of the humour centred on Rigsby’s (L, with actor Peter Jeffrey) awkward interactions with his tenants<\/p>\n

\"The <\/p>\n

The sitcom went on to win a BAFTA for Best Situation Comedy in 1978 and was later adapted into a feature film in 1980<\/p>\n

Rossiter’s performance as Rigsby was central to the programme’s success. Known for his razor-sharp timing and expressive delivery, the actor earned a reputation as one of Britain’s finest comic performers.<\/p>\n

Tragically, he died just six years after Rising Damp ended, suffering a fatal heart attack in his dressing room at the Lyric Theatre, London, aged 57. He had been preparing to go on stage in Joe Orton’s play Loot.<\/p>\n

Warrington was among those who paid tribute to his co-star at the time, recalling Rossiter’s generosity on set.<\/p>\n

He said: ‘Rossiter was tremendously helpful to me. He is the comic master, so inventive. He can smell a laugh hidden away in quite an ordinary line.<\/p>\n

‘He used to take me aside and say “Don’t try so hard, don’t say it that way, just try it like this,” he was always right.’<\/p>\n

For many viewers, Rising Damp remains a landmark of British television history.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But with modern trigger warnings now attached, the debate continues over how older classics should be presented to a new generation of audiences.<\/p>\n

It comes as viewers of ITV’s Doc Martin have been warned it may contain ‘medical procedures’ in the latest case of unusual trigger warnings being added to shows.<\/p>\n

\"While <\/p>\n

While such scenes are now being flagged for modern audiences, Warrington (R) has previously defended the programme from accusations of racism<\/p>\n

\"Series <\/p>\n

Series creator Eric Chappell also rejected claims that the comedy was harmful, insisting Rigsby was not written as a racist caricature<\/p>\n

\"Speaking <\/p>\n

Speaking in 2022, Warrington (R) said the sitcom should not be sanitised to fit today’s sensitivities because ‘its intentions were good’<\/p>\n

The content alert has appeared on the gently-paced comedy-drama, starring Martin Clunes, on the ITVX streaming service.<\/p>\n

Multiple episodes of the show have had warnings added, starting in season one where viewers are told an episode ‘contains a mild medical procedure’.<\/p>\n

In another later episode, ITV flags viewers could see one scene of ‘moderate peril’ after a man gets injured.<\/p>\n

And other notices warn of a ‘surgical procedure’ and a ‘bloody injury scene which some may find disturbing’.<\/p>\n

It is not just medical scenes viewers alerted to, there are also language marks on the show which vary from ‘bad’ to ‘mild’ to ‘moderate’.<\/p>\n

In season three, fans are even warned the episode ‘contains infrequent use of moderate language’.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An award-winning British sitcom has been slapped with trigger warnings for ‘discriminatory language’ – despite its stars and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":93605,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[97,96,347,391,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-93604","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-dailymail","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-itv","11":"tag-tv","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom","14":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93604","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=93604"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93604\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/93605"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93604"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=93604"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=93604"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}