Feature-length documentary coming soon

Sky is to air a feature-length documentary about Rik Mayall, drawing on previously unseen family archive material, unheard audio recordings and unpublished sketches.

Rik Mayall: Magnificent B'stard traces Mayall's career from his early characters – Rick the Poet and Kevin Turvey – through the work that made him famous, including The Young Ones, Bottom and The New Statesman.

Interviews include contributions from Stephen Fry, Ben Elton, Greg Davies, Nigel Planer and Adrian Edmondson, who was Mayall's closest creative collaborator and co-starred with him in Bottom.

With Edmondson

With Elton

The documentary also addresses more personal territory: Mayall's complicated relationship with alcohol, and the quad bike accident in 1998 that left him in a coma for five days and from which he took years to recover.

The film is directed and produced by Todd Austin for Bohemia Films. No broadcast date has yet been confirmed but it is expected to air soon. Austin also made last year's documentary  Douglas Adams: The Man Who Imagined Our Future.

Mayall died in June 2014, aged 56.

Published: 4 Jun 2026