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Remembering Rik Mayall, London (2026)

10/08/2026

Rik Mayall was only in Blackadder a handful of times, but whenever he turned up, you certainly knew about it.

His most famous character was Lord Flashheart — loud, ridiculously confident and completely full of himself. Rik first played him in the Blackadder II episode “Bells”, arriving as Blackadder’s best man before promptly running off with his bride.

He returned in Blackadder Goes Forth as Squadron Commander Lord Flashheart in “Private Plane”. This time he was an outrageously macho First World War flying ace, and despite being surrounded by Rowan Atkinson, Tony Robinson, Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry, Rik still managed to steal just about every scene he was in.

There was also a nice bonus for Rik and Ade fans in that episode. Adrian Edmondson appeared as German flying ace Baron von Richthofen, putting the two old comedy partners opposite one another in Blackadder.

Flashheart wasn’t actually Rik’s first appearance in the programme. He played the completely unhinged Mad Gerald in the original The Black Adder, sharing a prison cell with Edmund in “The Black Seal”. Years later, he returned once more to play Robin Hood in Blackadder: Back & Forth.

Considering how little time Rik actually spent in Blackadder, it says a lot that Lord Flashheart is still one of the characters so many people immediately remember.

Nobody could do completely over-the-top quite like Rik Mayall.

WOOF!

10/08/2026

When The Young Ones crashed onto BBC Two in 1982, British comedy suddenly had something that looked and sounded completely different.

At the centre of it were four disastrous housemates: Rik Mayall as self-important would-be revolutionary Rik, Adrian Edmondson as the spectacularly violent Vyvyan, Nigel Planer as miserable hippie Neil and Christopher Ryan as the rather more mysterious and supposedly cool Mike.

Behind the madness were Rik Mayall, Lise Mayer and a very young Ben Elton, who wrote the series together. All three were closely connected to the alternative comedy movement that was challenging the established comedy scene, and The Young Ones gave that new generation a place on mainstream television.

Normal sitcom rules barely seemed to apply. Characters smashed through walls, objects came to life, puppets suddenly appeared, and a perfectly ordinary scene could descend into complete destruction within seconds. The violence between Rik and Vyvyan in particular became a huge part of the show’s comedy.

And some of that physical comedy genuinely hurt. Mayall and Edmondson threw themselves into the slapstick, and both suffered injuries during the making of the programme. Edmondson later recalled dislocating his shoulder while filming, while Mayall injured his head performing another stunt. What looked gloriously reckless on screen wasn’t always painless to create.

Then there were the musical performances. Madness, Motörhead, Dexys Midnight Runners, The Damned and other acts could suddenly appear in the middle of an episode and perform a song. It added yet another ingredient to a programme that already felt as though almost anything could happen.

Remarkably, there wasn’t actually very much of The Young Ones. Only 12 regular episodes were made across two series, broadcast between 1982 and 1984.

Yet its influence stretched far beyond those 12 episodes. It helped take the alternative comedy movement to a much bigger audience, while Mayall, Edmondson, Planer, Ryan and Elton would all go on to become major figures in British comedy.

Rik and Ade, of course, weren’t finished with beating seven shades out of each other either. Years later they gave us Bottom — and somehow managed to make their physical comedy even more outrageous.

09/08/2026

The Young Ones arrived on British television in the early 1980s and immediately felt like something completely different. Rik Mayall, Adrian Edmondson, Nigel Planer, Christopher Ryan and Alexei Sayle were part of a comedy that was loud, surreal, unpredictable and deliberately unlike the traditional sitcoms that had come before it.

For Alexei Sayle, though, what became a hugely influential comedy began in a much less grand way. Looking back at how it all came together, he recalled: “In some ways it was just friends messing around.” Nobody involved could really have predicted what was about to happen. “All of a sudden it became a worldwide sensation,” he said. “It was simply brilliant.”

The series grew out of the alternative comedy scene that Sayle and several of his co-stars had been part of, and that attitude was all over The Young Ones. Normal sitcom rules seemed to go out of the window. There were bizarre cutaways, slapstick violence, surreal characters, musical performances and storylines that could go virtually anywhere.

But despite how fondly Sayle remembers making it, there is one decision he wishes had been different.

“I personally think we didn’t do enough of the show, and it’s one of my biggest regrets that we didn’t do more episodes,” he admitted. “I’m usually quite happy to kill off a series, but I think we jumped the gun too soon. That was a shame.”

It’s understandable when you consider that The Young Ones ultimately consisted of only two series, broadcast between 1982 and 1984. Just 12 regular episodes were made, yet more than four decades later people are still quoting it, rewatching it and talking about its influence.

Sayle himself was responsible for some of its most wonderfully bizarre characters. In the episode Nasty, he played both Harry the Bastard and a South African driving instructor who turns out to be a vampire — complete with a joke involving Transvaal and Transylvania. The cemetery scenes were filmed at Kensal Green Cemetery in London.

Perhaps that short run is part of what made The Young Ones so special, but it’s fascinating to know that one of the people who was there now wishes they’d kept going a little longer.

Imagine what another couple of series could have given us.

08/08/2026

I wonder how many people who laughed their way through The Young Ones ever stopped to think about what was going on underneath all of that.

Rik Mayall was one of the most physically committed, emotionally exposed performers Britain has ever produced. He threw himself into every single thing he did — not just with energy, but with a kind of reckless abandon that left nothing in reserve. That doesn't come without a cost. The people who burn that bright usually carry something heavy that the audience never gets to see.

Bonnie knew him better than almost anyone. And the fact that she says people would be surprised by his anxieties tells you everything about how carefully he protected that side of himself. He gave the public the chaos and kept the rest private.

That takes a different kind of courage than most people realise. Not the courage to be loud, but the courage to keep showing up and doing the work even when it doesn't come easily.

08/08/2026

This man had already lived about three different lives before most people had even heard of him.

He started out as a teacher in Yorkshire, moonlighted as a professional wrestler under the brilliant name “Leon Arras the Man From Paris”, and somehow ended up fighting John Wayne in a film. He’s the bloke who gave us the iconic line “I read a book once! Green, it was” in Porridge, and you’ve probably seen him getting mauled in An American Werewolf in London or running a grim prison colony in Alien 3. He was even the voice of the Tetley Tea folk.

He was one of those proper, rugged British character actors who made every single scene he was in better. He didn’t need to shout to be intimidating; he just had that natural, heavy presence that made you instantly believe he could rip your head off if you knocked on his door at the wrong time.

So, who knows the name of this absolute legend, and what was he doing when he crossed paths with Rik and Ade? Let’s see who gets it first.

08/08/2026

I wonder why some performers just have it, while others spend their whole lives trying to fake it. You can teach timing, you can teach delivery, but you cannot teach the kind of magnetic pull that Rik had.

When he stepped onto a stage or in front of a camera, the atmosphere changed. It wasn't just that he was funny; it was that he demanded your attention. He wanted you to watch him, and he made absolutely sure that you couldn't look away. It's a rare kind of confidence, that absolute certainty that he was the most interesting thing in the room.

And the brilliant thing is, he was right. Whether he was playing a grotesque student, a manic imaginary friend, or a sleazy politician, he brought a dangerous, unpredictable energy that nobody else could replicate. He didn't just want to be seen; he wanted to dominate the space.

07/08/2026

Happy birthday to the man who played Jerzei Balowski — the permanently furious, philosophically unhinged Eastern European landlord of The Young Ones. And not just Jerzei. Over the two series, Alexei played ten different members of the Balowski family, each one more deranged than the last. A medieval jester. An international arms dealer. A man who believed he was a taxi driver. All of them Balowskis. All of them played with the same full-throttle commitment.

What made it work was that Alexei wasn’t really acting in the traditional sense — he was doing stand-up inside a sitcom, breaking the fourth wall, addressing the camera directly, injecting his own material into the show in ways that had no real precedent on British television. It shouldn’t have worked. It absolutely did.

He was also part of the most extraordinary single episode The Young Ones ever produced. The Bambi episode assembled Hugh Laurie, Stephen Fry, Emma Thompson, Ben Elton, Griff Rhys Jones, Robbie Coltrane, Tony Robinson and Mel Smith — essentially a who’s who of British comedy talent — all in one episode, with Motörhead performing in the living room. Alexei was part of that. He was always part of that world.

Born in Liverpool on 7th August 1952. Seventy-four today.

07/08/2026

I couldn't disagree more with this, with no disrespect to Rik. He claimed he wasn't as entertaining as a character would be, that he didn't like being himself because he didn't have a persona to hide behind. But the truth is, the man himself was entirely captivating.

Yes, the characters were brilliant. They were loud, anarchic, and iconic. But the intelligence and the warmth required to create those characters didn't come from nowhere. They came from a man who understood comedy on a fundamental level, who knew exactly how to push boundaries and challenge expectations.

When you listen to people talk about him—the people who actually knew him, who worked with him—they don't just talk about the characters. They talk about Rik. They talk about his generosity, his sharp mind, and his sheer presence. He might not have liked being interviewed, but that doesn't mean he wasn't fascinating.

He gave us some of the greatest comedic creations in British history, but the real genius was always the man pulling the strings.

Not sure what you think, but I personally think he sold himself short here, he was very much loved and entirely encapsulating.

05/08/2026

Police in North Wales have finally revealed the identity of the mysterious “Grim Reaper” who caused chaos by climbing onto the roof of a Welsh hospital and silently staring at staff and patients.

The man has now been identified as Eddie Hi**er, of Hammersmith.

Witnesses said Eddie stood motionless on the roof in a black hooded cloak carrying a large scythe, leaving patients wondering whether it was the end. Hospital staff called police and the fire service after Eddie refused to come down, allegedly shouting that he was “just waiting for someone.”

When officers finally persuaded him off the roof, Eddie reportedly explained that he wasn’t trying to frighten anyone.

“I was only rehearsing. I’ve got to keep in practice.”

Magistrates in Llandudno weren’t impressed and fined him £200 for causing a nuisance, warning him that dressing as Death outside a hospital was “unlikely to reassure patients.”

Police confirmed there is no ongoing risk to the public.

05/08/2026

I still remember exactly where I was when the news broke. It felt like a mistake. Rik Mayall was too loud, too fast, and too aggressively alive to just be gone.

Looking back at Bottom, it’s easy to focus on the frying pans, the groin kicks, and the absolute destruction of the Hammersmith flat. But underneath all that violent slapstick was a genuine, desperate humanity. Richie and Eddie were tragic figures trapped together, and Rik played Richie’s pathetic, frantic need to be loved with a vulnerability that nobody ever gave him enough credit for.

He didn’t just give us laughs; he gave us a manic energy that defined an entire era of British comedy. We didn’t appreciate what we had until the silence hit.

It still gets me that we’ll never see him do something new. His electric comedy will never be recreated, and that genuinely makes me sad.

Remembering Rik Mayall

10/08/2026

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