Bottom (TV series)

Main characters • Adrian Edmondson as Edward "Eddie" Elizabeth Hitler. Edmondson described Eddie as "a very strange kind of mellow" version of Vyvyan from The Young Ones. He is "a man with no morals and a devious tiny-time entrepreneur". • Rik Mayall as Richard "Richie" Richard. He is "an old-fashioned moralist, hypocrite and small-minded virgin". Recurring characters • Steven O'Donnell as Spudgun (1991–1995) • Christopher Ryan as Dave Hedgehog (1991–1995) • Lee Cornes as Dick Head (1991–1995) • Roger Sloman as Mr Harrison (1991–1992) ==Premise==

Eddie and Richie are two pathetic, sex-crazed, slobby flatmates living in a filthy, damp flat at 11 Mafeking Parade in Hammersmith, London. Mayall described them as "unemployed survivors". They spend their time concocting desperate schemes to convince women to have sex with them, including buying sex spray, forging money, and pretending to be aristocrats. Their plans are never successful, and the stress of their miserable lives can cause them to become irritable with each other. Whenever tensions hit a breaking point, Richie and Eddie end up fighting (albeit in a comical, Tom and Jerry-style, with adult themes). Both men are immature. Richie is a virgin; he is insecure and clueless on how to talk to women. Despite being a penniless slob, he occasionally projects a pompous sort of snobbery in an attempt to impress others and boost his self-esteem; he is sexually frustrated and obsessed with losing his virginity. Eddie, the more popular of the two, enjoys drinking regularly, and often secretly steals family heirlooms and cash from Richie, although he occasionally has inventive moments, like building a cash forger, an electric toilet, and a time machine. Eddie's friends, the gormless Spudgun and Dave Hedgehog, both fear Richie, believing him to be psychotic. Although the four of them sometimes venture out, usually to the local pub, the Lamb and Flag, most of the episodes are set within the confines of the squalid flat. ==Music==

The opening and closing themes are cover versions of B. B. King's "BB's Blues" and The Mar-Keys' "Last Night", respectively. Both themes and the episode bridge instrumentals are played by The Bum Notes, an ensemble featuring Edmondson. == Production ==

Development Mayall and Edmondson first met as drama students at Manchester University in 1975, when Edmondson joined the improvisational comedy troupe 20th Century Coyote, of which Mayall was a member. It started as a joke until they learned that Alan Yentob, then head of BBC2, disliked the title which convinced the pair to stick with it. Mayall added that the title was deliberate to make viewers think of "bottom jokes", but that it also reflects on the show's premise of "two guys at the bottom of the heap". Mayall and Edmondson were aware of the failures of other sitcoms, and purposely wrote tight scripts. Edmondson said writing Bottom was liberating "because it's obvious what the idea is – to be as funny as possible." In June 1990, a pilot episode was recorded which was later titled "Contest" and broadcast as part of the first series. Problems over content came to light when recording began. Mayall recalled they were allowed three "bloodies" or "bloody hell"s per episode, and arguments were often had with as many as 20 BBC executives who went on the set. Some executives criticised the series for being sexist, but Mayall pointed out that they would have had more women on the show if they had not cut around twenty "shagging scenes" that were written, and argued that lesbian scenes were also removed. After the first series was recorded in June and July 1991, Bottom was first announced in August, when, in an attempt to attract viewers, the BBC reported that it had commissioned over 400 hours of new television programming for the upcoming autumn schedule. This included new productions from comics known as the Comic Strip, which included Mayall and Edmondson for Bottom and Dawn French for Murder Most Horrid. Bottom ended after three series in February 1995. Edmondson said that one of the reasons for stopping the show was the struggle to come up with new ideas as "we'd already hit each other with everything in the flat". Mayall supported this view, saying they took the show as far as it could go on television while continuing the franchise with stage tours and home video releases, preferring to retain full creative control over the characters. In 2000, he said that Richie and Eddie had become "bigger than we are". Recording Each episode was recorded in front of a live audience. The original scripts can be found in the published script books, and several completely removed scenes were included in the VHS release Fluff that consisted mostly of bloopers. Several (but not all) of these scenes, as well as some smaller sections of dialogue also removed for timing reasons, are included in DVD releases. The final episode of the second series, 's Out", was set on Wimbledon Common involving the antics of a flasher. It was not broadcast as part of the original series after Rachel Nickell was murdered on Wimbledon Common, due to which the BBC delayed its broadcast until a rerun of the second series on 10 April 1995. == Spin-offs ==

Stage shows Mayall and Edmondson held five nationwide theatre tours of Bottom between 1993 and 2003, adapting the original series into a stage show. The first tour, Bottom Live, lasted 43 dates across 10 weeks in 1993. The 2001 tour consisted of 76 dates, which included a show at the National Arena in Birmingham to over 4,500 people. The Weapons Grade Y-Fronts Tour included 40 dates. The stage shows were often cruder than the sitcom with stronger language, and developed over time to include settings outside the flat, including a prison cell and a remote island. Mayall said the movie was never meant to be a direct film adaptation, because other sitcoms that had those "didn't work". Instead, Guest House Paradiso featured the same characters, but detached from their show counterparts, with Mayall elaborating that "there will be other films of ours with Richie and Eddie. Just like Laurel and Hardy, they set them in prisons, or the foreign legion…different stories, but the link will be Richie and Eddie." Produced on a £3 million budget, the film premiered in December 1999. ==Cancelled revivals==

In late 2004, surrounding the release of their Mindless Violence DVD, Mayall hinted that he and Edmondson may possibly be returning with another tour in the future. However, Edmondson said that it was "definitely time to stop. We're both getting too old. We both realised that the show wasn't as engaging as it used to be. We were starting to look a bit ridiculous. ... We're both nearly fifty and we're starting to feel slightly undignified talking about wanking and knobs constantly." In 2010, Edmondson confirmed that he had quit comedy, stating that his interest in it has declined for many years, and wanted to focus more on his band. He dismissed the idea of reuniting with Mayall, saying it is "very unlikely". In March 2011, the duo made a surprise reunion when Edmondson took part in ''Let's Dance for Comic Relief''. A pre-recorded segment ended with Mayall hurling a custard pie in Edmondson's face. Mayall appeared again, this time live on stage, to abruptly end Edmondson's performance by hitting him several times with a frying pan. In the final, Mayall returned once again to drop a ton weight upon Edmondson. In the following month, Edmondson revealed that he and Mayall had conceived an idea for a sitcom. "Rik and I have an idea for a sitcom for when we are very, very old. We want to set it in an old people's home 30 years hence. It will be like 'Bottom', but we will be hitting each other with colostomy bags!" In August 2012, the BBC announced that it had commissioned a series based on the ''Hooligan's Island'' stage show, where Eddie and Richie cause havoc on a deserted tropical island, set to air in 2013. However, the show was scrapped just two months later. Edmondson said "it wasn't working" and wanted to pursue other projects. Mayall tried to have Edmondson reconsider, but he "put his foot down and said, 'It's not going to work mate.'", and wanted to wait ten years until they were older for a possible sitcom set in an old peoples home. Mayall died on 9 June 2014, putting an end to the plans. In 2023, Edmondson revealed that he wrote the initial scripts with Mayall in the hope that the BBC would reject them. He felt Mayall was eager to revive their old characters, but struggled to accept that Edmondson was not interested. While he hoped a rejection would put Mayall's aspirations to rest, the idea was ultimately greenlit.{{cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/news/desert-island-discs-adrian-edmondson-rik-mayall-b2417097.html|title=Desert Island Discs listeners in tears over Adrian Edmondson's emotional Rik Mayall memory ==Bottom: Exposed==

In February 2024, pay television channel Gold announced Bottom: Exposed, a 2-hour documentary on the making of the sitcom, featuring exclusive behind the scenes footage and insights from Edmondson, Paul Jackson, director/producer Ed Bye, the cast and production crew, and celebrity fans. Narrated by Stephen Fry, it aired on 18 April 2024. On the following day, Gold aired extended versions of two episodes, "Holy" and "Digger", for the first time on television. Both were previously released, the former on the series two DVD and the latter on the 1996 outtakes video Bottom Fluff. ==Episodes==

Series 1 (1991) Series 2 (1992) Series 3 (1995) ==Awards and nominations==

VHS releases DVD release In 2004, a DVD featuring a compilation of violent scenes from Mayall and Edmondson throughout their career, including scenes from Bottom, was released as Mindless Violence: The Very Best of the Violent Bits. ==See also==