Bottom (television)

Bottom
Opening title card
Genre	Sitcom Slapstick Black comedy
Created by	Adrian Edmondson Rik Mayall
Starring	Adrian Edmondson Rik Mayall
Opening theme	"BB's Blues" by The Bum Notes
Ending theme	"Last Night" by The Bum Notes
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language(s)	English
No. of series	3
No. of episodes	18
Production
Location(s)	Hammersmith, London
Camera setup	Multi-camera
Running time	30 minutes
Release
Original network	BBC2
Picture format	576i (4:3 SDTV)
Audio format	Stereo
Original release	17 September 1991 – 10 April 1995
Website

Bottom is a British television sitcom created by Adrian Edmondson and Rik Mayall that originally aired on BBC2 from 17 September 1991 to 10 April 1995 across three series. The show stars Edmondson and Mayall as Eddie Hitler and Richie Richard, two flatmates who live on the dole in Hammersmith, West London. The show is noted for its chaotic, nihilistic humour and violent comedy slapstick.

Bottom also spawned five stage-show tours between 1993 and 2003, and a feature film, Guest House Paradiso (1999). Plans for a spin-off series titled Hooligan's Island featuring various Bottom characters were cancelled in 2012. In 2008, Bottom came in at No. 45 in the "Britain's Best Sitcom" poll by the BBC. The show currently airs in the UK on Gold and Dave, and has been dubbed in other languages. In Spain the show, known as La pareja basura (The Trash Couple), aired on Canal+.

Eddie and Richie are two crude, perverted lunatics with no jobs, very little money, and only a filthy flat at 11 Mafeking Parade in Hammersmith, London, to call their own. Mayall described them as "unemployed survivors". They spend their time concocting desperate schemes to acquire sex, fighting each other violently, and getting into outlandish, legally and morally questionable situations. Bottom is considered the most violent example of Britcoms, with multiple instances of blood and dismemberment.

Richie is a clumsy, pompous dimwit who attempts to present himself as being much higher in social status than he actually is; he's both deranged and desperate, besides being obsessed with sex and losing his virginity. Eddie, a cheerfully violent drunkard, spends his time getting drunk, wasting his dole money and secretly stealing family heirlooms and cash from Richie, although he occasionally has moments of demented genius. Eddie's friends—the Spudgun and Dave Hedgehog—both fear Richie, believing him to be psychotic. Although they sometimes venture out, usually to the local pub, the Lamb and Flag, most of the episodes are set within the confines of their squalid flat.