Oh…Miss Jones!
BIOGRAPHYERIC CHAPPELL

THE WORLD OF ERIC CHAPPELL: Plays, TV, Radio and Contributions

TELEVISION

Debut: The Spanish Dancers 
HTV, 1971.
1-episode x 30-minute play, starring Henry McGee.
We’re Strangers Here (Late Night Theatre)
ITV, 1973
1-episode x 45-minute play.
Love Story
ITV (ATV), 1963 – 1974
1-episode 1973 x 60-minute drama.
Masquerade
BBC, 1974
1-episode x 30-minute play starring Leonard Rossiter.
Rising Damp 
ITV (YTV – Yorkshire Televsion), 1974 to 1978.
28-episodes x 30-minute sitcom, starring Leonard Rossiter, Frances de la Tour, Richard Beckinsale and Don Warrington.
Directed and Produced by Ronnie Baxter, Vernon Lawrence, Len Lurcuck, Ian MacNaughton.
The shows viewing figures (by homes) came in at No.11 in the TV ratings for September 1974 (6.1 million homes, above Crossroads and Some Mothers Do ‘Ave ‘Em), and consistently gaining 6 – 9 million homes for its entire run.
At its peak, Rising Damp was attracting over 18 million viewers, 18.6 in 1978 for Pink Carnations.
The Squirrels 
ITV (ATV), 1974 to 1977.
28-episodes x 30-minute sitcom, starring Bernard Hepton, Ken Jones, Patsy Rowlands and Alan David.
Directed and Produced by Shaun O’Riordan.
Only When I Laugh 
ITV (YTV), 1979 to 1982.
29-episodes x 30-minute sitcom, starring James Bolam, Peter Bowles, Christopher Strauli, Richard Wilson and Derrick Branche.
Directed and Produced by Vernon Lawrence.
No.1 in the TV ratings for May 1980 (17 million viewers, above Coronation Street), and consistently placed in the Top 10 for its run.
Misfits 
ITV (YTV), June to July 1981.
7-episodes x 30-minute sitcom, starring Anne Stallybrass, Enn Reitel, Kevin Lloyd and Marcia Ashton.
Directed and Produced by Ronnie Baxter.
Top 10 TV ratings for June 1981 (12.2 million viewers).
The Bounder 
ITV (YTV), 1982 to 1983.
14 episodes x 30-minute sitcom, starring Peter Bowles, George Cole, Rosalind Ayres and Isla Blair.
Directed and Produced by Vernon Lawrence.
No.5 in TV ratings for May 1982 (13.3 million viewers).
We’re Strangers Here 
ATV, 1984.
1 x 60-minute play.
Based on author’s 1976 theatre production.
Singles Night 
ITV (Thames), 19th June 1984.
1 x 60-minute episode, starring Robin Nedwell, Angela Richard, John Kavanagh, Jane Carr, and Patricia Brake.
Co-written with Jean Warr. Directed and Produced by Robert Reed.
This was commissioned three years later to form the sitcom Singles.
Duty Free 
ITV (YTV), 1984 to 1986.
21-episodes x 30-minute and 1 x 60-minute sitcom, starring Keith Barron, Gwen Taylor, Joanna Van Gyseghem, Neil Stacy, and Carlos Douglas.
Co-written with Jean Warr. Directed and Produced by Vernon Lawrence (except Series 3 & Special, directed by Les Chatfield).
Consistently in the Top 6 TV ratings, gaining 17.3 million viewers in January 1986.
Natural Causes 
ITV (YTV Play), 1988.
1 x 2hr play, starring George Cole, Prunella Scales, Benjamin Whitrow and Leslie Ash.
Directed and Produced by Vernon Lawrence.
Home To Roost 
ITV (YTV), 1985 to 1990.
28-episodes x 30-minute and 1 x 60-minute sitcom, starring John Thaw, Reece Dinsdale, Elizabeth Bennett and Joan Blackham.
Directed and Produced by Vernon Lawrence and David Reynolds.
Final series in January 1990 peaked with 13.6 million viewers.
Singles 
ITV (YTV), 1988 to 1991.
22-episodes x 30-minute sitcom, starring Roger Rees, Simon Cadell, Judy Loe and Susie Blake.
Co-written with Jean Warr. Directed and produced by Vernon Lawrence, Nic Phillips, Graham Wetherell.
Haggard 
ITV (YTV), 1990 and 1992.
14-episodes x 30-minute sitcom, starring Keith Barron, Reece Dinsdale, Sam Kelly and Sara Crowe.
Created by Michael Green, from his Daily Telegraph column. Directed and Produced by Vernon Lawrence and Catherine Morshead.

Fiddler’s Three 
ITV (YTV), 1991.
14-episodes x 30-minute sitcom, starring Peter Davison, Paula Wilcox, Charles Kay, Peter Blake and Tyler Butterworth.
Directed by Graham Wetherell, Produced by Vernon Lawrence.

THEATRE

The Banana Box, 1971 
The play that inspired the television series, Rising Damp. The Banana Box was reworked and re-written as a stage play entitled Rising Damp, in 2013.
We’re Strangers Here, 1976 
The play which was later turned into the sitcom Duty Free.
Natural Causes – A Black Comedy, 1984 
Up And Running/Up And Coming, 1988 
Fiddler’s Three, 1990 
Later moving to TV in 1991
Something’s Burning, 1992 
Haunted, 1994 
Theft, 1995 
It Can Damage Your Health, 1995 
Revised for the stage, based on the TV series “Only When I Laugh”.
Heatstroke, 1995
Haywire, 1997
Double Vision, 2000
Ground Rules
Snakes and Ladders, 2001 
A reworking of the play, Heatstroke from 1997.
Summer End, 2002 
We’re Strangers Here, 2003
Haunted, 2003
Father’s Day, 2007 (Based on the sitcom ‘Home to Roost’)
Wife after Death, 2011
Dead Reckoning – a Thriller
Rising Damp, 2013
False Prentences – a Farce
Last of the Duty Free (aka Duty Free)
Haggard (with Michael Green)
Mixed Feelings
Only When I Laugh…See It Can Damage Your Health
Passing Strangers, 2015
Side Effects
Sitting Tenants
The Night in Question
For further information on rights, contact Eric Chappell Productions

CLICK HERE

RADIO

Like Achilles
Poor Glover
BBC (Radio 4), 6th March 1974.
1 x 30-minute play.
A reworking of the script became the sitcom, The Squirrels.

FILM

Rising Damp: The Movie 
Released in May, 1980

CONTRIBUTIONS

‘Oh, Miss Jones!’: The Very Best of Leonard Rossiter (VHS, 1996)
Laughter In The House: The Story Of British Sitcom (BBC TV Mini Series, 1999)
What a Performance! (TV Series, 1999)
The 100 Greatest TV Moments (Channel 4,1999)
The Unforgettable Richard Beckinsale (Channel 4, 2000)
The Unforgettable Leonard Rossiter (ITV, 2000)
Heroes Of Comedy: Leonard Rossiter (Channel 4, 2001)
ITV 50 Greatest Shows (ITV Special, 2005)
The Ultimate Sitcom (Channel 4, 2006)
When Were We Funniest? (UK Gold, 2008)
Britain’s Funniest Comedy Characters (Channel 5, 2012)
Rising Damp Forever (ITV, 2016)
It Was Alright in the…70s (Channel 4, 2016)
Top of the Box (Channel 5, 2018)
error: