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<html lang="en"><head><title>BBC - Comedy - Bottom</title><style type="text/css"> #archive-mothballed-message a:hover span { text-decoration:underline; } #blq-container #archived-mothball-message a { padding-left:250px; padding-top:17px; background-position: 180px 10px; } #ttd-masthead #archived-mothball-message a { padding-left:250px; padding-top:17px; background-position: 180px 10px; } #k-masthead-container #archived-mothball-message a { padding-left:250px; padding-top:17px; background-position: 180px 10px; } #archived-mothball-message a { display:block; height:56px; background:url(/globalresources/mothball-images/i.gif) 100px 10px no-repeat; color:#666; text-decoration:none; padding-left:160px; padding-top:12px; font-size:20px; font-family: verdana,helvetica,arial,sans-serif; font-weight: normal; } </style><link rel="schema.dc" href="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"><link rel="schema.dcterms" href="http://purl.org/dc/terms/"><link rel="schema.bbc" href="http://bbc.co.uk/metadata/1.0/"><meta name="description" content="Created by and starring comedy double-act Rik Mayall and Adrian Edmondson, Bottom brings us into the bizarre world of Richard ‘Richie’ Richard and Eddie Hitler, a pair of repulsive, slobbish flatmates living in Hammersmith. 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#fbfbfb; "> <a href="/globalresources/mothballing" style=" "> This page has been archived and is no longer updated. <span style=" display:block; font-size:0.5em; padding:10px 0 0 70px; font-weight:bold; "> <span style=" color:#1A75BB; margin-left:100px; ">Find out more about page archiving.</span> </span> </a> </div><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" width="100%" id="bbcpageTableTop"><tr><td class="bbcpageToplefttd" width="140"><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0"><tr><td width="8"><img src="/staticarchive/5ea3e7590d674d9be4582cc6f6c8e86070157686.gif" width="8" height="1" alt=""></td><td width="132"><img src="/staticarchive/5ea3e7590d674d9be4582cc6f6c8e86070157686.gif" width="132" height="1" alt=""><br clear="all"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" size="1" class="bbcpageToplefttd">28 October 2014<br></font></td></tr></table></td><td width="100%" valign="top"><div id="grid-banner"><div class="banner"><a href="/comedy/comedy/"><img class="logo" 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class="bbcpageServices"><img src="/staticarchive/5ea3e7590d674d9be4582cc6f6c8e86070157686.gif" width="1" height="1" alt=""></td><td class="bbcpageServices"><hr width="50" align="left"><font face="arial, helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"><a class="bbcpageServices" href="/feedback/">Contact Us</a><br><br></td><td class="bbcpageServices"><img src="/staticarchive/5ea3e7590d674d9be4582cc6f6c8e86070157686.gif" width="1" height="1" alt=""></td></tr></table><table width="620" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" id="bbcpageTableContent" style="margin:0px;float:left"><tr><td><a name="startcontent" id="startcontent"></a> <div id="grid-columns"><ul class="widget-crumb"><li class="nth-child-1"><a href="/comedy/">Comedy</a></li><li class="nth-child-2 last-child">Bottom</li></ul><h2><span>Bottom</span></h2><div id="grid-column-1"><div class="image width399 story-lead"><img class="photo" src="/staticarchive/c26f08e6bb2fd8e7bb58a056d9986bfaf24c3902.jpg" alt="Rik Mayall as Richie and Adrian Edmondson as Eddie" width="396" height="222"></div><p class="lead-text">Created by and starring comedy double-act Rik Mayall and Adrian Edmondson, Bottom brings us into the bizarre world of Richard ‘Richie’ Richard and Eddie Hitler, a pair of repulsive, slobbish flatmates living in Hammersmith. </p><div class="free-rich-text"><p>Equally revolting, vicious and arrogant, they spend their lives avoiding work and instead living in filth, devising hair-brained moneymaking schemes and deluded plans to snare beautiful women.</p> <p>They also share a penchant for ultra-violence: weekly kicking seven shades out of each other with anything from household implements to heavy industrial machinery.</p> <div class="float-wrapper"><div class="image width129 body position-b"><img class="photo" src="/staticarchive/b2a928c1ccea6be36cadafbf1d4d82f2d150c83a.jpg" alt="Rik mayall as Richie in Bottom" width="124" height="69"></div><p>It all adds up to an intentionally juvenile sitcom, written and performed with gleeful, unashamed bad taste.</p></div> <p>Mayall and Edmondson, most famous for their work together in 80s classic The Young Ones, used the show to explore the far depths of comic possibilities offered by squalid bachelor life and to provide plentiful outlets for their trademark slapstick.</p> <p>The surreal nature of the violence - for instance, enabling Eddie's legs to be chain-sawed off temporarily in one episode - led to no shortage of visual jokes and gave Bottom a zany, cartoony feel.</p> <p>It was never looking for mainstream appeal, but it did spawn a strong and loyal cult following over three TV series, a succession of outrageous shows on stage (where the pair first honed their act) and finally a movie version in 1999 (Guest House Paradiso).</p> <div class="float-wrapper"><div class="image width129 body position-a"><img class="photo" src="/staticarchive/b754e0c788ce16e1fec9d4a95f5fcf069d4b77c7.jpg" alt="Adrian Edmondson as Eddie in Bottom" width="124" height="69"></div><p>The incessant gags about bodily fluids and genitalia didn't always hit the mark but they came thick and fast (no pun intended) and the amoral, surreal characters were strangely refreshing to watch.</p></div> <p>Freed from taking itself seriously, the script would often openly refer to the fact that it's just a sitcom (another anarchic touch descended from The Young Ones).</p> <p>The net result was a crude yet often hilarious show in which truly anything could happen in the next half-hour.</p></div><h3 class="cast"><span>Cast</span></h3><dl id="cast-details"><dt><a href="/comedy/people/rick_mayall_person_page.shtml">Rik Mayall</a></dt><dd><span>Richie Richard </span></dd><dt><a href="/comedy/people/adrian_edmondson_person_page.shtml">Adrian Edmondson</a></dt><dd><span>Eddie Hitler </span></dd></dl><h3 class="crew"><span>Crew</span></h3><dl id="crew-details"><dt><a href="/comedy/people/rick_mayall_person_page.shtml">Rik Mayall</a></dt><dd><span>writer</span></dd><dt><a href="/comedy/people/adrian_edmondson_person_page.shtml">Adrian Edmondson</a></dt><dd><span>writer</span></dd><dt><span>Ed Bye</span></dt><dd><span>director</span></dd><dt><span>Bob Spiers</span></dt><dd><span>director</span></dd><dt><span>Ed Bye</span></dt><dd><span>producer</span></dd><dt><span>Jon Plowman</span></dt><dd><span>producer</span></dd></dl></div><div id="grid-column-2"><div class="link-set" id="multi-av"><h2><span>Watch and Listen</span></h2><div class="link-set"><ul><li class="nth-child-1 video media-selector"><a onclick="window.open(this.href,this.target,'status=no,scrollbars=yes,resizable=yes,width=409,height=269'); return false;" target="avaccesswin" title="The Stork Margarine competition" href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediaselector/check/comedy/broadband/video/bottom_s3ep1?size=4x3&bgc=000000&bbwm=1&bbram=1&nbwm=1&nbram=1&st=no">The Stork Margarine competition</a></li><li class="nth-child-2 last-child video media-selector"><a onclick="window.open(this.href,this.target,'status=no,scrollbars=yes,resizable=yes,width=409,height=269'); return false;" target="avaccesswin" title="Wind smear, anyone?" href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediaselector/check/comedy/broadband/video/bottom_s3ep3?size=4x3&bgc=000000&bbwm=1&bbram=1&nbwm=1&nbram=1&st=no">Wind smear, anyone?</a></li></ul></div></div><div class="link-set" id="multi-no-av"><h2><span>Related Links</span></h2><div class="link-set nth-child-1"><h3><span>Also on BBC comedy</span></h3><ul><li class="nth-child-1"><a href="/comedy/blackadder">Blackadder</a></li><li class="nth-child-2"><a href="/comedy/thecomicstrip">The Comic Strip Presents...</a></li><li class="nth-child-3 last-child"><a href="/comedy/theyoungones">The Young Ones</a></li></ul></div><div class="link-set nth-child-2 last-child"><h3><span>Beyond the BBC</span></h3><ul><li class="nth-child-1"><a href="/go/comedy/content/link_sets/bottom_outsidebbc_linkset/ext/-/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103376/" title="IMDb" class="external-link">IMDb</a></li><li class="nth-child-2 last-child"><a href="/go/comedy/content/link_sets/bottom_outsidebbc_linkset/ext/-/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bottom_%28TV_series%29" title="Wikipedia" class="external-link">Wikipedia</a></li></ul></div></div><p class="disclaimer">The BBC is not responsible for the content of external websites.</p></div></div></td></tr></table><br clear="all"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0" lang="en" id="bbcpageTableFooter"><tr><td class="bbcpageFooterMargin" width="140"><img src="/staticarchive/5ea3e7590d674d9be4582cc6f6c8e86070157686.gif" width="140" height="1" alt=""></td><td class="bbcpageFooterGutter" width="10"><img src="/staticarchive/5ea3e7590d674d9be4582cc6f6c8e86070157686.gif" width="10" height="1" alt=""></td><td class="bbcpageFooter" width="620" align="center"><img 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