Rising Damp to his belief in some aspect of Philip's lore: for example, the 'love wood' which fails to excite Miss Jones (in the 'Charisma' episode, first broadcast 1974). Philip is an intelligent, educated man (more so than the moderately educated Alan and Miss Jones), he is sophisticated and suave; this makes Rigsby suspicious of him, particularly as Miss Jones openly fancies him. Philip does not reciprocate Miss Jones's romantic interest. Croydon was not revealed to be the true birthplace of Philip until the film version of "Rising Damp" (1980). Don Warrington commented in Britain's 50 Best Sitcoms on Channel 4, that
British African-Caribbean people (Rudolph Walker) and "Rising Damp" (Don Warrington) when their role was often to act simply as either the butt of, or foil to, racist jokes made by White characters. The most influential programme in moving away from this formula was the 1989–94 Channel Four barbershop sitcom "Desmond's", starring Norman Beaton and Carmen Munroe. One of the biggest African-Caribbean names in comedy is Lenny Henry, who began his career as a stand-up comedian but whose television sketch shows, where he often caricatured Caribbean émigrés, made him popular enough to headline numerous primetime comedy shows from, for instance, "Lenny Henry" in 1984