Adrian (Ade) Charles Edmondson is an English actor, comedian, director, musician and writer who is probably best known as the anarchic punk Vyvyan Basterd on the cult BBC sitcom The Young Ones (1982-84), and for his role as Eddie Hitler in the BBC sitcom Bottom (1991-1995) He is also well known for his long time comedy partnership with Rik Mayall.
Adrian was born on 24th January, 1957 and was raised, for the most part, in Bradford, West Yorkshire. During his childhood he and his family spent some time living abroad in countries such as Cyprus, Uganda and Bahrain due to the fact that his father was a armed forces teacher and was required to work in these places. On returning to England Adrian attended school in Yorkshire and then moved on to the study Drama at the University of Manchester.
It was at the University of Manchester where Adrain was to meet several people who would eventually become important friends and co-workers in his future comedy career. The notable person is Rik Mayall. After meeting they soon became friends and together they roamed around the University announcing that one day they would be stars. And for the pair these tremendoulsy cocky declarations actually came true. Starting off as comedy double act 20th Century Coyote at The Comedy Store in London, they soon found themselves not only star attractions of the club but also at the heart of the ground breaking Alternative comedy movement. Adrian and Rik would go on to be amoung the founding members of The Comic Strip comedy club where they appeared with acts such as Alexie Sayle, French and Saunders, Nigel Planer and Peter Richardson.
The Comic Strip became an almost instant hit and soon television producers and excecutives where taking notice of them. Channel four commissioned the group to make a series of short self contained films, working as comedy actors, rather than as stand-up commedians. The show was to be named simply The Comic Strip Presents . The first episode that was aired, The Comic Strip Presents Five Go Mad in Dorset was a spoof of the famous five stories. Adrian played 'famous five' member Dick. The episode was shown on Channel Fours opening night. Meanwhile the BBC was also looking to add a fresh new comedy style to their channel. They pluckers Adrian, Rik Mayall and Nigel Planer from the group and along with Lise Mayar and Ben Elton they created The Young Ones. The first episode was shown just a few days after the the first episode of The Comic Strip Presents, and was an instant hit, and although it only ran for two series, still has a massive cult following world wide.
He has broken into television, along with his friends and co-workers with style and has been on screens ever since. He continued to appear in episodes of The Comic Strip throught the 1980's and 90's, perhaps most notably writing and starring in 1983's The Comic Strip Presents Bad News. This episode is a favourite amoung fans. It is a mockumentary following the band 'Bad News' The episode was so popular that they later did a second episode based on the characters called More Bad News. During the 1980s he appeared in shows such as Saturday Live (as The Dangerous Brothers along with Rik Mayall, Filthy Rich and Catflap, Happy Families and Blackadder. He also married fellow commedian and Comic Strip star, Jennifer Saunders and became a father to three daughters.
The 1990's saw even more sucess for him. In 1991 Adrian and Rik teamed up again to write and star in Bottom. The show featured the slapstick and crude humour that had made the pair famous and was very popular but was also criticised for its vulgar humour. The show ran for three series and a fourth was discussed but never made. Adrian and Rik, however, took the characters and created five sucessful Bottom Live stage shows. Although Bottom and The Comic Strip presentswhere Adrians main projects in the 90's, he also appeared in the controversial black comedy If You See God Tell Him. At the 90's Rik and Ade embarked on writing a Bottom film. Disaster stuck though in 1998 when Rik was almost killed in a quad bike accident. He suffered serious head injuries and was forced to remain in hospital for quite some time. They finished writing the script as Rik recovered but he did not feel up to sharing the work on the film equally like they had planned to do before the accident so Adrian took on the bulk of the work load. The movie Guest House Paradiso was finally released but did not prove as popular as the television programmes and the stage show that had inspired it.
In 2000 appeared with Rik in The Comic Strip Presents Four men in a plane. This was the last Comic Strip show he made. Adrian and Rick did the last two Bottom Live shows in 2001 and 2003. Since then Adrian has shown a reluctance to work with Rik and it was reported that he said that Rik had been more difficult to work with after his accident and that he thought he was the wrong age to be acting the type of character he and Rik had been concentrating on. However both have stated that they remain friends and have not ruled out working together in the future both claiming that they like the idea of doing a Bottom style show, but down the line when they are old men.
Since the Adrian has been seen doing more serious roles. He played Jane Austens Brother Henry in the TV drama Miss Austen Regrets and received much praise for his role as Abra in UK hospital drama Holby City. In 2008 he wrote and appeared as Vernon in the ITV sitcom Teenage Kicks and he has also appeared in several celebrity reality type shows including Celebrity Fame Academy and Hells Kitchen.
At the moment though he is concentrating on a career in music. He is a keen music fan and plays several musical instruments. He has also directed and appeared in music videos (especially in the late 80's) however in recent years he has been touring with bands. He first appeared as a vocalist with Bonzo Dog Do Da band in 2006 for their reunion tour and then in 2008 he formed his own band The Bad Shepherds along with Martin Allcock, Andy Dinan and Troy Donockley. The cover punk song in folk style and have been touring the 2009 folk fesivals promoting their album Yan, Tyan, Tethera, Metheral. He is also managing his eldest daughter, Ella's music career.
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For more information of Adrian check out
- Adrian Edmondson Biography
This section includes more details on Adrians career and personal life and includes pictures and videos etc.. It can be found here
- Adrian Edmondsons Best Characters
This section talks in depth about some of Adrians best known and best loved characters from stage, television and movie. With trivia, details of the shows, most popular quotes and some video. It can be found here
- Adrian Edmondson Quotes
This section is a collection of quotes by and about Adrian that have been gathered up from his career. There are a large collection of quotes (and pictures) from the shows he has appeared in. Quotes from interviews he has given and a collection of things his friends and colleges etc. have had to say about him. It can be found here
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coolcasualtyposted 920 days ago
