After last year's successful matinee show, the stage version of the hit television comedy series Rising Damp is coming back to The Priestley later this month.

Actor Carl Murray said: "It was an absolute success; a really large audience enjoyed it so much we decided to extend the run at The Priestley and do a northern tour. Otley Courthouse and Glusburn are the provisional venues."

Carl plays the conniving slum landlord Rigsby, made famous - or notorious - by the late Leonard Rossiter.

"It's very difficult to follow him. It is tempting to do a Leonard Rossiter pastiche but it's nearly impossible.

"One of the things you notice is that as soon as you deliver any of the lines that people know, you get an automatic response from the audience," he added.

Oddly enough, Rising Damp first started out as a stage play, The Banana Box, in 1971. The writer Eric Chappell later adapted the idea which made 28 episodes for television.

In the YTV 1974-78 series the roles of Miss Jones, Alan and Phillip were made famous by Frances de la Tour, the late Richard Beckinsale and Don Warrington, respectively.

In the 90-minute production by Bradford's Re-Invention Theatre Company, Miss Jones will be played by Megan Wilson, Alan by Sam Collier, who also directs, and Phillip by Joseph Atkins.

For those unfamiliar with the plot, Alan and Phillip are medical students sharing the dingy attic of a battered old house run by skinflint Rigsby.

Rigsby is a Midlands version of Alf Garnett, a little Englander with a hearty dislike of foreigners. Phillip is a black African - the son of a tribal chief. His status catches out Rigsby, who is also something of a working class snob.

He is also sexually frustrated, which is why he eyes his solitary female tenant, lonely administrator Miss Jones, with unabated and unrequited passion.

Eric Chappell wrote the words, only a few of which have been changed to accommodate a modern audience. The scenes in the stage play have been culled from the original television scripts.

Carl says: "In terms of bringing Rising Damp back alive after 40 years, some of the scripts were quite dated and in places a bit racist.

"Could we get away with that with a modern audience? Most of the scripts are exactly as written - And what's that, water coming down the walls? What do you expect, champagne?' - I think we have given it a fresh look.

"One of the things we have really worked at is the getting the costumes and furniture right to give the set an authentic 1970s look. We want it to be as realistic as possible. We had a bit of trouble finding a skeleton and the right kind of wardrobe," Carl adds.

Rising Damp has remained popular in the UK. Although a pilot was made for US television, executives took against it and the show did not get an airing.

  • Rising Damp is on at The Priestley from April 22 to 24, starting at 7.30pm. The box office number is (01274) 820666.