Set in a seedy bedsit, the cowardly landlord Rigsby has his conceits debunked by his long suffering tenants.
Having failed again to get a date with Philip, Ruth is unhappy so Rigsby, to arouse her, blows in her ear but she just thinks there's a draught. Alan and Philip have been on a double date and Philip is annoyed that Alan is so inexperienced with women that they only ended up playing scrabble. Philip lost his virginity on his fourteenth birthday. Alan only got a bike for his. To prove he is not afraid of women Alan enters Ruth's room in his dressing-gown but hides in the wardrobe when Rigsby also goes in and, on discovery, pretends he was sleep-walking. Alan's ...
Rigsby can't quite hold it together when Philip challenges him to go without food for 48 hours.
When Miss Jones starts to exercise ,it sets off Rigsby boasting of his own athletic prowess as a younger man.Then Philip challenges him to a boxing match.
Rigsby is distraught that Ruth has fallen for another man and is on the verge of moving out.So with malice aforethought he sets out to sabotage the blooming romance
New gentleman tenant Seymour brings out Rigsby's aspirations to mingle in more aristocratic circles.Philip and Alan are not so sure of Seymour's true intentions.
While Alan is running around trying to borrow money from everyone, Rigsby raids the gas meter for money to seduce new tenant Brenda.Then the bill collectors come calling
Rigsby unnerves Alan by telling him the house is haunted by the ghostly "grey lady".Philip makes sure this comes back to haunt the landlord.
Whilst Rigsby is on holiday in Spain, Alan lets a room to Mrs. Brent, whose husband is at sea, and her baby, despite the fact that Rigsby does not allow tenants with children. So, whilst Mrs. Brent looks for other accommodation, Alan tries to hide the baby but is discovered by Rigsby, who initially thinks the baby is Alan's. Ruth has returned and Alan and Philip give her the baby to mind, leading Rigsby to then think that Ruth is his mother, so he is shocked when she says she hardly knows the father and does not know the baby's name. Both Mr. and Mrs. Brent then ...
A very camp actor called Hilary moves into the house. He has written a play which he wants Ruth and Alan to perform. Rigsby is less than pleased to think that this will allow the long-haired student to share intimate moments with his beloved Miss Jones, so he appeals to Alan's homophobia and tells him that Hilary is gay, scaring Alan off which leads to Hilary asking Rigsby to replace him. Aware of what has gone on Hilary sits very near to Rigsby on the sofa and appears to make a pass at him, scaring Rigsby off from appearing in the play. however, when Hilary assumes ...
Rigsby invests in a white sports car to impress Ruth and takes her to the country club in it. On their return the car is severely dented and carrying part of another car with it. When Rigsby learns that the other driver, Mr. French, is a magistrate and will be calling at the house in the evening, he panics and tells Alan he can have the car. Mr. French duly arrives and, on learning that Alan owns the car, gives him ten pounds as it was actually Mr. French who caused the damage.
The household goes on suicide watch when a new tenant, the depressive Mr. Gray, who has lost his wife and his business, becomes Rigsby's latest tenant. Ruth switches tea-cups with him when she sees him drop a tablet in his but it is only saccharin. Mr. Gray's behaviour leads Rigsby to get a man from the Samaritans to visit. Firstly he thinks Ruth is the depressive when he sees her with her head in the gas oven - which she is trying to fix. Later Mr. Gray climbs on the roof and Rigsby, to impress Ruth, goes up to talk him down. The Samaritan then assumes he is the ...
Exotic dancer Marilyn moves into the house with Charlie, a python that she uses in her routine. Although Charlie is harmless Philip persuades Rigsby that he is a Fawcett's python, one of the deadliest in the world. Of course he escapes and the boys scare Rigsby with a stuffed toy python. When Douglas the curate comes round for his singing practice with Ruth, Rigsby decides to play a joke on them with the toy python but of course he ends up handling Charlie.
Alan is dating the upper class Caroline Armitage and, when Ruth says that Caroline's mother is a wealthy property owner, Rigsby is keen that Alan gets engaged to her so that he can benefit by it. He gives the lad lessons in etiquette in anticipation of a tea party for Mrs Armitage but is angry to find he has not been invited. When he crashes the party he discovers that Mrs. Armitage is the former Mabel Bagworthy, a common rag-and-bone man's daughter that he was at school with, who rode to school on her father's cart, and he takes great delight in telling everyone. ...
Rigsby's lodger Osborne is a pill-popping hypochondriac but, to Rigsby's annoyance, Ruth feels sorry for and spends time with him. One day Rigsby goes into Osborne's room to find his lifeless body and so arrangements are to be made for a funeral, Rigsby providing the coffin he had bought for himself. For a joke the boys dare him to get in the coffin and shut him in. When he gets out he sees Osborne alive and well - he had merely seemed dead due to his excess of pill-taking. Rigsby promptly collapses.
Lorna and Robin are a young couple who come to stay and Ruth tells Rigsby they are newly-weds. He gives them presents but withdraws them when he finds out they are just living together. They explain that Lorna's stern father disapprove of Robin so - in the absence of Alan - Ruth and Philip ask the father round to discuss things. Due to a misunderstanding he is horrified to think that Rigsby might be his daughter's boyfriend and goes for him, switching his anger to Philip who comes in to rescue Rigsby. Rigsby explains that Philip would not want Lorna as he already has ...
Gwyn, a fundamentalist Welsh preacher who abstains from everything and spends much of his time praying or hymn-singing, moves in. He talks Ruth out of going on a dirty weekend with Rigsby because it would be immoral and has some success in converting Rigsby to the faith. However, when Ruth gets excited as he explains to her a passionate extract from the bible and throws herself at him, he moves out.
A solicitor comes to tell Rigsby that an uncle has left him fifty thousand pounds - on condition he can prove he is married. Since Rigsby parted from his actual wife Veronica years ago and she moved away, he persuades Ruth to pose as his 'wife' when the uncle's widow, Aunt Maud, comes to check on his marital status. To confuse matters the real Veronica also shows up but, since he does have a wife, he is allowed to inherit the money. Unfortunately it is all eaten up by his uncle's unpaid taxes.
By coincidence Rigsby and Ruth answer the personal ad each has placed in the local paper and meet at the same hotel, both wearing pink carnations for identification purposes. Then a bridal party arrives for a reception and, as both bride and groom are also sporting a pink carnation, this leads to confusion as both get mistaken for the blind date. When the bride's mother comes to sort things out Rigsby is horrified to think that she might be the person he has arranged to meet and insults her before getting thrown out, still unaware that Ruth was his real blind date.
New lodger Ambrose claims to be a hypnotist and proves it by mesmerising Rigsby into regressing to his childhood - and undressing - in front of Ruth. To make things up to Rigsby, Ambrose hypnotises him into adopting a smooth persona to woo Ruth but she is not impressed. After Ruth has pretended to be hypnotised and chased after Rigsby for a joke, he decides he will do the same to her but the pretence is unmasked when she sticks a hat-pin in his bottom.
After his divorce from Veronica comes through Rigsby proposes to Ruth - who accepts. His shifty brother Ron turns up to be the best man and Ruth's upper-crust mother initially mistakes him for the groom as he looks very smart. She does not believe that Ruth should marry Rigsby and tries to talk her out of it but seemingly in vain. On the day of the wedding the Rigsby brothers go to the wrong church and by the time they locate the right one the wedding party has gone home. He confesses this to Ruth, who admits that she had cold feet about their wedding and never went ...
