Rising Damp Smith (Don Warrington) is a planning student who claims to be the son of an African Chief. As a black man, he brings out the ill-informed fears and knee-jerk suspicions of Rigsby. However, the landlord quickly accepts his new tenant and henceforth regards him with a wary respect... wary because of Philip's intelligence and smooth manners, and especially because Miss Jones finds herself attracted to the handsome sophisticate. Of these four principal actors, only Beckinsale was a new recruit - the others had all played their roles in the original stage play. In the first series, there was another tenant
Don Was he grew up listening to the Detroit blues sound and the jazz music of John Coltrane and Miles Davis, amongst many others. As a teenager, Was was further influenced by the Beat Generation, most notably John Sinclair. In high school, Was was the lead singer and guitar player in a Detroit rock band called the Saturns. The first recording project that he engineered and produced was in 1971 with drummer Muruga Booker on a recording called "Rama Rama / Endless Path". Using the stage name "Don Was", he formed the group Was (Not Was) with school friend David Weiss (David