Rising Damp sprang from a play by writer Eric Chappell entitled The Banana Box, in whose London runs Leonard Rossiter starred as landlord Rooksby.

The pilot episode - and indeed the series - were originally to be titled Rooksby, after the main character of The Banana Box. However, "at the eleventh hour" writer Eric Chapell changed the titles and character name - Rooksby became Rigsby - after a real-life landlord called Rooksby raised "strong objections".

Some versions of the pilot still give the on-screen episode title as Rooksby.

A short exchange from the final episode of Series 1, Stand Up And Be Counted, is sampled toward the end of the 1997 song Amnesia by Chumbawamba:

Alan: What about free speech?
Rigsby: That's not the point. You're giving this place a bad name. I've got my position to think of.