Ade Edmondson on the detail that affected friendship with Rik Mayall: ‘We never got to an understanding about that’
Ade Edmondson on the detail that affected friendship with Rik Mayall: ‘We never got to an understanding about that’
Jacob StolworthyMon, June 22, 2026 at 7:29 AM UTC
0
Adrian "Ade" Edmondson has reflected on the events that affected his close friendship with Young Ones and Bottom co-star Rik Mayall, including the latter's private alcoholism and a near-fatal quad bike accident.
Mayall died aged 56 on 9 June 2014 after suffering a sudden heart attack. Edmondson, 69, has opened up about their friendship and working relationship in a new one-off special celebrating the late comedy star.
In Rik Mayall: Magnificent B'stard, which airs on 25 June, Edmondson branded the chaotic 1990s sitcom Bottom, which followed two crude flatmates in London, "the best programme we ever made together", and looked back on their successful run touring as their characters from the show.
Rik Mayall and Ade Edmondson in 'Bottom' (BBC)
"The show was good, the second one," Edmondson said. "By the third run, he was sort of secretly drinking. My little office was overlooking a pub, and then I'd start to see him going in for a quick couple of shorts before he came in to write. Strange, as we used to enjoy alcohol so much together."
In 1998, Mayall crashed his quad bike, which fractured his skull. Doctors put him into a medically induced coma so he could heal; when he awoke, he was left with seizures and had to stop drinking.
Edmondson and Mayall decided to make the 1999 slapstick film Guest Host Paradiso instead of touring again. But the former noticed that his friend "was never exactly the same person", and found him "bizarrely more emotional".
They eventually went back on tour together, for a fifth time, but Edmondson called time on their partnership on the final night in 2003. However, a tearful Mayall found it difficult to accept the news.
"Endless touring did us in. I kind of realised we couldn't really do it anymore, and we never really got to an understanding about that, which makes me very sad," Edmondson recalled.
Advertisement
In the same documentary, Mayall's daughter Rosie remembered her dad saying to her: "I don't know what I've done wrong, I don't know why this has happened."
Rik Mayall 'changed' after near-fatal quad bike accident in 1998 (Getty Images)
She continued: "I think he just felt like the carpet had been pulled from underneath him, and he was just sort of left going, 'Well, now what?' I just think that my dad deserved more, so much more. But then again, Adrian was completely entitled to do what he needed to do as well, for his own mental health."
Edmondson said he particularly struggled with his grief after Mayall's sudden death as "we never kind of repaired what our relationship was".
"So I've had to explain the later part of our relationship in some ways, because people want to know," he said. "It is obvious that something went a bit awry, but I think we should mostly remember that he was a f***ing genius."
Edmondson previously revealed in his 2023 memoir that the pair began collaborating again in 2012 after a new project based on their Bottom characters, was commissioned by the BBC.
However, he noticed Mayall counting how many jokes each of them had – and complained when he thought Edmondson had more than he did.
Ade Edmondson has expressed regret over not repairing friendship with Rik Mayall before his sudden death (Getty Images)
Edmondson wrote: "And I realise that the double act is properly over. There's no trust left. It was glorious when it was alive, I'm immensely proud of everything we did together, it still makes me laugh, but I'm glad we didn't do a dodgy final series."
He also previously described the early years working with Mayall as "the most joy I've had in my life", telling documentary Bottom Exposed: "When I do things like this, and I remember the absolute joy of sitting in that little office in Richmond opposite the Hole in the Wall pub, it was absolute, you know, the distilled joy."
He continued: "Making each other laugh, Properly laugh. Big belly laugh, laughs, you know. Proper can't stop laughing, laughing. Very rarely you get a relationship like that with someone."
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
