10 Magnificent Mayall Moments

Rik Mayall and Nigel Planer performed as a folk singer called Nigel in 'Boom Boom...Out Go The Lights'. The one-off revue show featured artists who appeared away from the bright lights of the West End in the pubs and clubs of London's alternative cabaret circuit in 1981.

Rik Mayall as Kevin Turvey, a totally miscast Birmingham investigative reporter who believes he has all the answers to the problems of the Eighties. Rik developed the Kevin Turvey character during regular stand-up performances at The Comedy Store in London.

Rik Mayall's big TV breakthrough came in 1982 when he wrote and starred in The Young Ones. Mayall played Rick, an obnoxious self-proclaimed anarchist student who wrote terrible poetry. Also starring his long-term comedy partner Adrian Edmonson and co-written by Ben Elton, The Young Ones lasted for two series and transformed its writers and stars into household names.

Mayall returned to the screens in 1987 alongside fellow Young Ones stars Adrian Edmonson and Nigel Planer in the Ben Elton-penned Filthy, Rich and Catflap. Mayall played the part of minor celebrity Richie Rich with Edmonson playing his bodyguard Eddie Catflap and Planer as his manager Filthy Ralph.

Rik Mayall performing alongside Hugh Laurie and Rowan Atkinson as Lord Flashheart in the fourth and final series of the hugely popular historical sitcom Blackadder. Rik had brought a version of this super-macho, sex-obsessed, alpha male character to the small screen in the second series of Blackadder, playing a distant ancestor of this particular incarnation.

Fondly remembered by the young at heart across the world, Bottom was a wonderfully juvenile, hyper-violent, potty-mouthed sitcom which ran for three series and spawned several live tours. Mayall and Edmonson had been developing versions of the characters Richie and Eddie since the early days of their comedy partnership. However, it was after performing together in a West End production of Samuel Beckett's Waiting For Godot that they finally honed down the Bottom format which they considered a 'cruder cousin' of Beckett's play.

Bucking his trend of adult-oriented performances, Rik Mayall appeared on the BBC children's TV series Jackanory in 1993, reading the story The Fwog Prince - The Twuth. Rik had previously appeared on the show in 1986 reading Roald Dahl's George's Marvellous Medicine. Mayall's performance was the first taste many people had of his anarchic style, with the BBC receiving complaints that the performance and material were "both dangerous and offensive".

Rik Mayall with show regulars Alan Davies and Caroline Quentin in an episode of the crime drama Jonathan Creek in 1998. This was Rik's first acting job after a serious quad bike accident earlier in the year, after which he was kept in an induced coma for five days. Rik later went on to joke about the incident in one of the Bottom live shows by referring to himself as "That t**ser who fell off the quad bike".

Mayall leant his distinctive voice to a Children's TV programme once again in 2004, when he voiced the character of Edwin in the BBC family-oriented series Shoebox Zoo. Edwin the Eagle is the self-proclaimed and self-appointed leader and spokesman of the Shoebox Zoo.

In this darkly comic audio series, Rik Mayall plays Elton the last remaining talking Snowman - an alcoholic, war-mongering, immortal and immoral tyrant. Rik co-wrote the series with Craig Green and Dominic Vince in 2012. It has developed a cult following since and debuted on 4 Extra in the two episodes The Interview With The Snowman.