As is so often the case, Bottom was priceless whilst in it's first two seasons, then although still funny, I believe has gone downhill ever since. However, the early days of Bottom remain in my mind as some of the funniest material every written. It's all in the characters. Richie and Eddie are both hideously decadent and their lives seem to be bereft of consequence.

Bottom is not at all sophisticated. It has no political overtones. It is not a clever satire on the state of the nation and has only a limited grasp of the English language. Let's be clear. It's about two men, Richard Richard and Edward Elizabeth Hitler, who live in a horrible flat, never have sex, masturbate to the Miss World contest and spend a lot of time hitting each other.

Every episode opens with a title like Smells which has amusing connotations in the context of the title Bottom, and ends with either Eddie hitting Richie, Richie hitting Eddie, or both of them being hit by someone else (apart from the Christmas episode, in which they got to see their friend's daughter breast-feeding her baby). Most episodes get about a hundred and twenty miles to the gallon out of Richie's smaller-than-average tackle. Eddie will usually get poked in the eye. There will be a joke about a not-very-sexy sex symbol to make the point that Eddie and Richie don't get out very much. If you're extremely lucky, you'll get to see Richie's underpants, which will be humorously over-sized grey y-fronts. Rik and Ade are not trying very hard in this series.