Accident (Bottom)

Accident is the sixth and final episode of the first series of British sitcom Bottom. It was first broadcast on Monday October 28, 1991.

Synopsis

Richie has an accident on his rather depressing birthday.

Plot

The episode begins with Eddie sitting down at the breakfast table. Richie then enters the room in his pyjamas singing "Happy Birthday to me" much to Eddie's dismay. Richie then begins his annual birthday "routine" of reading what are obviously forged cards, the same ones he claims to have received last year. After asking Eddie the whereabouts of his birthday gift Eddie - after annoying Richie with a couple of gag-gifts (Richard's comb that he lost last week and the TV remote) - hands him a piece of paper, with the words "Madame Swish 3:30" written on it, Richie -believing it to be a prostitute - is initially excited at the prospect of finally getting sex and heaps praise on Eddie,however it soon comes to light that Madame Swish is actually a horse running in the 3:30 at Kempton. Richie gives Eddie £20 to put on the horse, with odds of 10/1.

Eddie arrives back after attending the bookies for the big race, and successfully fools Richie into thinking that the £20 bet Richie put on the race has left him with £2 in winnings. As Eddie tosses over the winnings however Richie falls off the ladder he is standing on and breaks his leg. After trying to overcome the problem with Eddie's assistance (which actually leaves Richie worse off) Richie is forced to go to hospital.

The pair return from the hospital - with Richie bandaged up and in a wheelchair - at 7pm, when Richie is expecting his party guests. As the clock strikes 7 there is a knock at the door - however only Eddie's "real" friends Dave Hedgehog and Spudgun await. Richie realises he has no friends and invites the pair to stay, following which he insists the group play "Sardines" - a game in which one person hides and the rest have to find him, and when they find him they hide with him. However, being in a wheelchair, Richie needs the other three to hide him in the upstairs cupboard, and they must do so with their eyes closed. Once they have hidden Richie and counted to ten, Eddie, Spudgun and Dave instead decide to spend the night in front of the television drinking the alcohol Eddie has bought with the winnings he has stolen off of Richie.

Richie is ecstatic after being in the upstairs cupboard for over 5 hours, believing it to be a world record. Richie soon after gets bored of waiting to be found and attempts to rejoin them downstairs, however due to his immobililty he struggles getting down the stairs and ends up breaking his other leg, much to the amusement of the other three. A drunken Spudgun then vomits on the injured Richie.

Richie's second mishap happens to occur at the same time as last orders at the local pub, so Eddie invites the regulars around for a quick party. Eddie is just in the middle of having the crowd in stitches whilst doing impersonations of Richie - with a mop end on his head - when Richie enters the room. After Eddie convinces him that all of his friends have turned up for his party after all, Richie cheers up and attempts to boss over the activities. After attempting however to take one of the guests blouses off, he is stopped by the woman's boyfriend who then proceeds to get everyone together to give Richie the bumps. As they all throw him into the air Richie's casts snap, leaving him screaming in pain.

Notes

• This episode sees the first appearance of Eddie's "real friends" Spudgun (Steve O'Donnell) and Dave Hedgehog (Christopher Ryan). O'Donnell had worked on several of the Comic Strip Presents... productions with Mayall and Edmondson and would later co-star with Lee Evans in So What Now? (referenced by Richie and Eddie in the 2003 live show). Ryan had famously been one of the Young Ones, Mike, along with Mayall and Edmondson who played Rick and Vyvyan respectively. Spudgun and Hedgehog would return in several other episodes - "Parade", "Holy", "Terror" and "Dough".
• Mark Williams would later become a regular of The Fast Show team and later would play recurring character Arthur Weasley in the Harry Potter films.
• The ambulance footage was recorded in Aldershot during the development of The Galleries.

Continuity and Production Errors

• Richie breaks his leg by falling off a stepladder, landing on his front. In the next shot, he is seen on his back.
• Following on from the above, Eddie tries to put Richie's leg back in place by tieing the leg to the door with string, and slams the door. As he does this, the string pulls Richie and he hits the door. If watching in slow motion, once the door is slammed, Richie's jeans rip, revealing the fake leg, and Mayall's real leg behind it. Continuing in slow motion, a trolley can be seen under Richie as he is pulled across the floor.
• Eddie, Hedgehog and Spudgun help Richie get up the stairs in his wheelchair to play Sardines. When Spudgun leans on the wall, the whole stage shakes.
• On the Bottom Fluff out-takes video, during this episode a shot shows peanuts on top of the television. After telling fellow actor Christopher Ryan that he "pissed" in the bottle of vodka he was drinking, Edmondson takes and eats a single nut, and then says "That's buggered continuity".

Cast

Cast	Characters
Rik Mayall	Richie
Ade Edmondson	Eddie
Steve O'Donnell	Spudgun
Christopher Ryan	Dave Hedgehog
Mark Williams	Boris
David Lloyd	Willy