# Bottom (1991)

> Two broke, sexually frustrated outcasts trapped in a squalid London flat spend their days scheming and tormenting each other.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/4078

## Facts

- Seasons: 3
- Episodes: 18
- Episode runtime: 30 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: comedy
- Created by: Rik Mayall, Adrian Edmondson
- Network: BBC Two
- Cast: Adrian Edmondson, Rik Mayall, Clive Mantle, Brian Glover, Mark Williams, Lee Cornes, Mark Arden, Lisa Maxwell
- TMDB rating: 8.3/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103376/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: brisk
- Intensity: strong
- Complexity: simple
- Violence: moderate
- Tone: sadistic, irreverent, chaotic, abrasive, bleak, absurd

## What critics say

Viewers broadly acclaim the show as a fiercely anarchic, sharply written comedy whose two leads' venomous chemistry makes its cruelty and squalor consistently funny.

## Synopsis

Bottom (1991-1995) is a British dark comedy series created by Rik Mayall and Adrian Edmondson for BBC Two. Rik Mayall plays Richie Richard, a socially awkward, sexually inexperienced would-be actor, and Adrian Edmondson plays Eddie Hitler, a carefree alcoholic. The two are social outcasts living on the dole in a squalid flat in Hammersmith, London, perpetually broke, bored and frustrated. Their engine is the constant scheming for money, sex and small comforts, and every episode is built from petty scams, failed schemes and bickering that quickly turns cruel and sadistic. The show runs three seasons of six episodes each, a compact run in which the central pair's relationship is the whole story. Its slapstick is anarchic and violent, and it frequently breaks the fourth wall, drawing on the alternative comedy tradition that Mayall and Edmondson helped establish. The tone is abrasive, bleak and absurd, with a grubby 1990s British working class atmosphere. Fans of The Young Ones, Father Ted and Peep Show will find resonance in its cringe comedy, its chaotic flatmate dynamic and its unapologetically nasty humor.

## Shows like Bottom

- [The Fast Show (1994)](https://ember.film/tv/2410)
- [Gimme Gimme Gimme (1999)](https://ember.film/tv/1886)
- [15 Storeys High (2002)](https://ember.film/tv/858)
- [Ideal (2005)](https://ember.film/tv/1383)
- [Blackadder (1983)](https://ember.film/tv/6746)
- [The New Statesman (1987)](https://ember.film/tv/5699)
- [Men Behaving Badly (1992)](https://ember.film/tv/745)
- [Nighty Night (2004)](https://ember.film/tv/185)
- [Black Books (2000)](https://ember.film/tv/852)
- [The Young Ones (1982)](https://ember.film/tv/4264)

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