We are all very sad to hear of the death of Rik Mayall. He was a genius whose anarchic humour helped define the genre of alternative comedy and saw him create a host of iconic characters.
From the tantrum-throwing Rik in the Young Ones to Lord Flashheart in Blackadder and the malevolent MP Alan B’Stard in The New Statesman, he had the enviable quality of being able to inject just about the right amount of believability into each of his comic creations while simultaneously making them gloriously over-the-top.
What makes his death especially poignant is that 21 years ago this week, he was treading the boards here at Norwich Theatre Royal in the stage version of another of his TV hits Bottom opposite co-star Adrian Edmondson.
Rik’s death leaves an enormous gap in the worlds of comedy and entertainment.
