Bottom (TV series)
Bottom | |
---|---|
Genre | Sitcom |
Created by |
|
Starring |
|
Opening theme | "BB's Blues" by the Bum Notes |
Ending theme | " Multi-camera |
Running time | 30 minutes |
Original release | |
Network | BBC2 |
Release | 17 September 1991 10 April 1995[2] | –
Bottom is a British sitcom created by
Mayall and Edmondson had worked together since the mid-1970s, and developed Bottom as an extension of their own relationship and their on-screen characters in The Young Ones and Filthy Rich & Catflap, their earlier BBC sitcoms. In addition to the series the pair completed five stage show tours between 1993 and 2003, and adapted the sitcom into a feature-length film, Guest House Paradiso, released in 1999. A spin-off series featuring various Bottom characters, Hooligan's Island, was cancelled in 2013. Mayall's death in the following year ended plans for a revival.
Cast
Main characters
- Rik Mayall as Richard "Richie" Richard[8] He is "an old-fashioned moralist, hypocrite and small-minded virgin".[7]
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 (1991–92)
Premise
Eddie and Richie are two pathetic, sex-crazed, slobby flatmates living in a filthy, damp flat at 11 Mafeking Parade in
Production
Development
Mayall and Edmondson first met as drama students at
The show's original working title was Your Bottom, for the humour of people having to say "I saw 'Your Bottom' on television last night", before it was shortened because Mayall said they "liked the shape of the word."[12] 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".[15] 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."[6] The pair based Eddie and Richie on characters that they had improvised with as part of 20th Century Coyote, and on their own friendship.[6] They made a conscious effort to avoid any pop culture or contemporary references when writing, as The Young Ones had been popular with young people and instead wanted to portray characters who had left student life behind and reached their "thirties and forties".[6] Instead, the two were interested in more everyday scenarios "that have always been there", such as a gas meter reading.[12] "Eddie and Richie have been compared to their characters on The Young Ones, but 10 years older.[7] After the first series had been filmed, Mayall ranked Bottom as their best work and marked "a new chapter" in his relationship with Edmondson.[11]
In June 1990, a
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".[19] Mayall supported this view, saying they took the show as far as it could on television while continuing the franchise with stage tours and home video releases, preferring to retain full creative control over the characters.[20] In 2000, he said that Richie and Eddie had become "bigger than we are".[19]
Filming
Each episode was filmed 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
The final episode of the second series, "
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.[22] The 2001 tour consisted of 76 dates, which included a show at the National Arena in Birmingham to over 4,500 people.[23] The Weapons Grade Y-Fronts Tour included 40 dates.[24] 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.[23] There were several instances of the pair getting carried away with the planned stunts, resulting in one of them getting cuts on their head. Edmondson said: "Rik would tell them 'Don't be scared, it happens all the time.' We'd just carry on, then go off to hospital afterwards to be sewn up."[25] A show from each tour was filmed and released for home video.
Title | Year | Recording location |
---|---|---|
Bottom Live | 1993 | Southampton Mayflower Theatre |
Bottom Live 2: The Big Number Two Tour | 1995 | Oxford New Theatre |
Bottom Live 3: Hooligan's Island | 1997 | Bristol Hippodrome |
Bottom Live 2001: An Arse Oddity | 2001 | Nottingham Royal Concert Hall |
Bottom Live 2003: Weapons Grade Y-Fronts Tour | 2003 | Southend The Cliffs Pavilion
|
Guest House Paradiso
During the Hooligan's Island tour in 1997, Mayall and Edmondson sought ways of spending time before the night's performance and began to develop ideas for a script that involved Richie being a hotel manager. After some time the pair realised that they had produced a substantial work that would suit a feature film. The result was Guest House Paradiso, a spin-off to Bottom featuring Mayall and Edmondson as Richard Twat (pronounced "Twaite") and Eddie Elizabeth Ndingobamba, respectively, with Edmondson as director. The story involves the pair operating a grotty remote guesthouse next to a nuclear power plant and feeding their guests radioactive fish, causing massive amounts of vomiting. Despite the characters and humour being in the same vein as Bottom,[26] Mayall said Guest House Paradiso was never meant to be a film version of Bottom because other sitcoms that had film adaptations "didn't work".[27] 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."[25] 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".[28]
In March 2011, the duo made a surprise reunion when Edmondson took part in
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.[30][31] However, the show was scrapped just two months later. Edmondson said "it wasn't working" and wanted to pursue other projects.[32] 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.[33] Mayall died on 9 June 2014, putting an end to the plans.[34] 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.[35]
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 Bye, Edmondson, the cast and production crew, and celebrity fans. Narrated by Stephen Fry, it aired on 18 April 2024.[36][37] 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.[38]
Episodes
Many of the episodes' names are meant to be a humorous suffix to the word "bottom". Bottom "Fluff" was used for the outtakes for the home video releases.
Series 1 (1991)
Title | First broadcast | Synopsis |
---|---|---|
"Smells" | 17 September 1991 | Richie and Eddie take advantage of a revolutionary new sex-spray and head to the pub. |
"Gas" | 24 September 1991 | After accidentally beating up the Gas Man, Richie and Eddie must remove an illegal gas pipe without disturbing their violent neighbour. |
"Contest"[a] * | 1 October 1991 | After Eddie spends his £11.80 savings on a first edition copy of Parade, the pair place a bet on the "Miss World" contest. |
"Apocalypse" | 8 October 1991 | After receiving £600 from his auntie's will, Richie ends up receiving a curse from a Gypsy fortune teller. |
" 's Up "
|
15 October 1991 | Richie and Eddie are left in charge of their landlord's shop. |
"Accident" | 22 October 1991 | Richie breaks his leg, but is determined not to let it spoil his birthday celebration. |
Series 2 (1992)
Title | First broadcast | Synopsis |
---|---|---|
"Digger" | 1 October 1992 | Richie secures a date by pretending to be an aristocrat. |
"Culture" * | 8 October 1992 | When their TV is 'taken away', Richie and Eddie desperately try to find ways to fend off boredom. |
"Burglary" | 15 October 1992 | Richie and Eddie catch a burglar .
|
" Parade " +
|
22 October 1992 | Richie and Eddie get free money from an identity parade .
|
"Holy" | 29 October 1992 | Richie and Eddie experience a Christmas Day miracle. |
" 's Out " +
|
5 November 1992 10 April 1995[21] |
Richie and Eddie go camping out on Wimbledon Common. |
Series 3 (1995)
Title | First broadcast | Synopsis |
---|---|---|
"Hole" * + | 6 January 1995 | Richie and Eddie are trapped at the top of the tallest Ferris wheel in Western Europe which is due to be blown up the very next day. |
"Terror" | 13 January 1995 | The pair plan a Halloween party and go trick-or-treating. |
"Break" * | 20 January 1995 | The duo prepare for their holiday in Doncaster. |
"Dough" | 27 January 1995 | Eddie begins forging money, forcing the duo and their friends to enter a pub quiz to pay off a thug. |
"Finger" | 3 February 1995 | Having acquired the honeymoon tickets of newly-weds Mr and Mrs Cannonball Taffy O'Jones, the pair descend upon a luxury hotel masquerading as the honeymooners. |
"Carnival" * | 10 February 1995 | Richie and Eddie have the best seats for the annual Hammersmith riots, then try to make videos for the BBC. |
'*' = Episodes featuring only the two main characters
'+' = Episodes not set in the flat
Awards and nominations
Year | Award | Category | Title | Result | Ref |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1992 | British Comedy Awards |
Best New TV Comedy | Bottom | Won | [39] |
Home media
VHS releases
Title | Release date | Episodes | BBFC rating |
---|---|---|---|
Bottom - Smells (BBCV 4821) | 21 September 1992 | "Smells", "Gas", "Contest" | 15 |
Bottom - Apocalypse (BBCV 4845) | 21 September 1992 | "Apocalypse", "'s Up", "Accident" | 15 |
Title | Release date | Episodes | BBFC rating |
---|---|---|---|
Bottom - Digger (BBCV 4994) | 5 July 1993 | "Digger", "Culture", "Burglary" | 15 |
Bottom - Parade (BBCV 5115) | 20 September 1993 | "Parade", "Holy", "'s Out" | 15 |
Title | Release date | Episodes | BBFC rating |
---|---|---|---|
Bottom - Hole (BBCV 5660) | 2 October 1995 | "Hole", "Terror", "Break" | 15 |
Bottom - Dough (BBCV 5661) | 2 October 1995 | Dough, Finger, Carnival | 15 |
Title | Release date | Episodes | BBFC rating |
---|---|---|---|
The Complete Bottom Series One | 4 April 1994 (BBCV 5265) | "Smells", "Gas", "Contest", "Apocalypse", "'s Up", and "Accident" | 15 |
The Complete Bottom Series Two | 3 July 1995 (BBCV 5647) | "Digger", "Culture", "Burglary", "Parade", "Holy", "'s Out" | 15 |
The Complete Bottom Series Three | 2 September 1996 (BBCV 5906) | "Hole", "Terror", "Break", "Dough", "Finger", "Carnival" | 15 |
DVD release
DVD Title | Disc # | Year | No. of Ep. | DVD release | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Region 1 | Region 2 | Region 4 | |||||
Complete Series 1 | 1 | 1991 | 6 | — | 18 August 2003 | 6 October 2005 | |
Complete Series 2 | 1 | 1992 | 6 | — | 30 August 2004 | 2 March 2006 | |
Complete Series 3 | 1 | 1995 | 6 | — | 8 August 2005 | 6 July 2006 | |
Complete Series 1–3 | 3 | 1991–1995 | 18 | 30 September 2003 | 3 October 2005 | 5 October 2006 | |
The Very Best of... | 1 | 1991–1995 | 5 | — | 5 August 2002 | 8 August 2002 | |
The Big Bottom Box[40] | 7 | 1993–2003 | 6 | — | 4 December 2006 | — |
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.[25]
See also
- List of films based on British sitcoms
References
- ^ "Bottom... GAS - Rik Mayall Scrapbook". 7 July 2018. Retrieved 26 January 2021.
- ^ "BBC - Comedy Guide - Bottom". www.bbc.co.uk. Archived from the original on 4 December 2004. Retrieved 30 June 2022.
- ^ "British Sitcom Guide - Bottom". Archived from the original on 3 February 2014. Retrieved 23 December 2008.
- ^ "BBC - Britain's Best Sitcom - Top 11 to 100". Archived from the original on 1 February 2014. Retrieved 23 December 2008.
- Hole". Bottom. Season 3. Episode 1. BBC.
- ^ a b c d Reynolds, Gillian. "Hitting bottom". The Daily Telegraph. p. 16. Retrieved 23 September 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b c Mackay, P.W. "Rick and Ade go back to bottom". The Post. p. 27. Retrieved 23 September 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
- Carnival". Bottom. Season 3. Episode 6. BBC.
- ^ "Who's Laughing Now?". 18 March 2012.
- ^ "BBC - Comedy - People A-Z - Rik Mayall'". Retrieved 23 December 2008.
- ^ a b Grant, Steven (25 September 1991). "Bums the Word". Time Out. Retrieved 5 January 2016.
- ^ a b c Johnson, Richard (14 September 1991). "The Youngish Ones". Radio Times. Retrieved 28 September 2022.
- ^ Mayall 2005, pp. 159–160.
- ^ Mayall 2005, p. 161.
- ^ "Who's Laughing Now?". Arena. 1991.
- ^ Mayall 2005, p. 162.
- ^ Mayall 2005, p. 161, 163.
- ^ "Beeb's strip show stoppers!". Daily Record. 22 August 1991. p. 23. Retrieved 23 September 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b Michell, Fleur (July 2000). "Bottom Lines". Unknown. Retrieved 26 September 2022.
- ^ Dessau, Bruce (20 November 2003). "You've Got Mayall". The Evening Standard. Retrieved 26 September 2022.
- ^ BBC Genome.
- ^ "Direct Mayall". GQ. June 1993. Retrieved 5 January 2016.
- ^ a b Hemingway, Alex (8 November 2001). "An Arse Oddity". Oxford Student. Retrieved 26 September 2022.
- ^ Gooch, Rebecca (November 2003). "Rik Mayall, Lucky Star". E-Motion. Retrieved 26 September 2022.
- ^ a b c Davies, Barbara (1 December 2004). "The Young Ones Have Grown Old. So It's Time for Rik and I to Split". Daily Mirror. Archived from the original on 29 July 2020. Retrieved 26 September 2022.
- ^ "Empire review of Guest House Paradiso". Empireonline.com. January 2000. Retrieved 19 June 2014.
- ^ Millar, John (10 December 1999). "From Hell to Paradiso". OK! Magazine. Retrieved 26 September 2022.
- ^ Alun Palmer (27 January 2012) [1 September 2010]. "Adrian Edmondson 'unlikely' to work with Bottom partner Rik Mayall again after quitting comedy". Daily Express. "I've had last laugh says Adrian" at Express.co.uk.
- ^ "Mayall and Edmondson write retirement home comedy". British Comedy Guide. 7 April 2011. Retrieved 14 July 2013.
- ^ "BBC Two announces raft of new commissions". BBC News. 23 August 2012. Archived from the original on 2 October 2015. Retrieved 23 August 2012.
- ^ Skipper, Ben (23 August 2012). "Bottom to return after 18 years". Yahoo News. Archived from the original on 14 August 2014. Retrieved 19 June 2014.
- ^ Cole, Tom (15 October 2012). "BBC Bottom reunion series Hooligan's Island scrapped". Radio Times. Retrieved 26 September 2022.
- ^ "Bottom TV show 'back in a decade'". Belfast Telegraph. 5 March 2013. Retrieved 26 September 2022.
- TheGuardian.com. 10 June 2014.
- ^ Stolworthy, Jacob (23 September 2023). "Desert Island Discs listeners in tears over Adrian Edmondson's emotional Rik Mayall memory". The Independent. Retrieved 18 April 2024.
- ^ Hibbs, James (9 February 2024). "Adrian Edmondson celebrates classic Rik Mayall comedy in Bottom: Exposed doc". Radio Times. Retrieved 18 April 2024.
- ^ Tanter, Paul (18 April 2024). "Bottom director Ed Bye: 'It couldn't be done today'". Radio Times. Retrieved 18 April 2024.
- ^ "Two extended Bottom episodes to air on TV for the first time". Virgin Radio. 5 April 2024. Retrieved 18 April 2024.
- ^ "Past Winners 1992 - The British Comedy Awards - The British Comedy Awards". Retrieved 25 August 2017.
- ^ "The Big Bottom Box". British Comedy Guide.
Sources
- Mayall, Rik (2005). Bigger Than Hitler, Better Than Christ. Harper Entertainment. ISBN 978-0-007-20727-5.
Notes
- pilotin 1990
External links
- Bottom at BBC Online Comedy Guide
- Bottom at BBC Online
- Bottom at British Comedy Guide
- Bottom at epguides.com
- Bottom at British TV Comedy Guide
- Bottom at Curlie
- Bottom at the BFI's Screenonline
- Britfilm's review of Guest House Paradiso
- Bottom at IMDb