Accident (Bottom episode)
Encyclopedia
"Accident" is the sixth and final episode of the first series of British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 sitcom Bottom
Bottom (TV series)
Bottom was a British sitcom television series that originally aired on BBC2 between 1991 and 1995. It was written by comic duo Rik Mayall and Adrian Edmondson who star as Richie and Eddie, two flatmates living on the dole in Hammersmith, London...

. It was first broadcast on Monday 28 October 1991. This episode sees the first appearance of Eddie's "real friends" Spudgun (Steven O'Donnell
Steven O'Donnell (actor)
Steven O'Donnell is an English actor.Before O'Donnell became an actor he worked for 5 years in Charing Cross Hospital as a Scientific Officer in a medical laboratory. He has appeared in several comedies with Rik Mayall...

) and Dave Hedgehog (Christopher Ryan
Christopher Ryan
Christopher Ryan is an English actor. Ryan is perhaps best known for his role as Mike "The Cool Person" in the BBC comedy series The Young Ones.-Early life:...

).

Synopsis

Richie breaks his leg, but he is determined not to let it spoil his birthday celebrations.

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
Forgery
Forgery is the process of making, adapting, or imitating objects, statistics, or documents with the intent to deceive. Copies, studio replicas, and reproductions are not considered forgeries, though they may later become forgeries through knowing and willful misrepresentations. Forging money or...

 cards (Some allegedly from Sue Carpenter
Sue Carpenter
Sue Carpenter is a former United Kingdom newsreader and television presenter. Born on 17 May 1956, she graduated in English Literature at King's College London in 1977....

 and General Pinochet) the same ones he claims to have received last year. One of his cards is from ABBA
ABBA
ABBA was a Swedish pop group formed in Stockholm in 1970 which consisted of Anni-Frid Lyngstad, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson and Agnetha Fältskog...

 with "Happy Christmas 1973" written inside. Another is clearly forged but appears to be from the people of the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

 "In grateful thanks to comrade Richie". Eddie points out that Richie has simply written it himself and put all the R's the wrong way round, Trying to save face, Richie insists that the is how Russian is written. Richie asks Eddie where his birthday gift is and, after annoying Richie with a couple of gag-gifts (Richie's comb that he lost last week and the TV remote), Eddie hands Richie a piece of paper with the words "Madame Swish 3:30" written on it, Richie, believing it to be a prostitute's card, heaps praise on Eddie, so initially excited is he at the prospect of finally getting sex. However, it soon comes to light that Madame Swish is actually a horse
Horse racing
Horse racing is an equestrian sport that has a long history. Archaeological records indicate that horse racing occurred in ancient Babylon, Syria, and Egypt. Both chariot and mounted horse racing were events in the ancient Greek Olympics by 648 BC...

 running in the 3:30 at Kempton
Kempton Park Racecourse
Kempton Park Racecourse is a horse racing track in Sunbury-on-Thames, Surrey, England, which is a western suburb of London 16 miles from the city centre. The site is set in of land....

. Richie gives Eddie £20 to put on the horse, with odds of 10/1.

Whilst Richie puts up his birthday decorations, Eddie returns after 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, 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
Wheelchair
A wheelchair is a chair with wheels, designed to be a replacement for walking. The device comes in variations where it is propelled by motors or by the seated occupant turning the rear wheels by hand. Often there are handles behind the seat for someone else to do the pushing...

 - 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 variant of hide and seek
Hide and seek
Hide-and-seek or hide-and-go-seek is a variant of the game tag, in which a number of players conceal themselves in the environment, to be found by one or more seekers.-Variants:Numerous variants of the game can be found around the world...

 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 liquor Eddie has bought with the winnings he stole from Richie.

Richie is ecstatic after being in the upstairs cupboard for over 5 hours, believing it to be a world record, but soon after he gets bored and attempts to rejoin them downstairs. Due to his immobililty, he falls down the stairs, crashing through the cloakroom door and breaking his other leg, much to the amusement of the other three. A drunken Spudgun then vomits on the injured Richie, falling on him at the same time.

Richie's second mishap just so 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 and saying "Oh! Oh! why won't anyone ever have it off with me? Maybe it's because I'm a big fat ugly bastard with a microscopic penis!" - just as Richie enters the room, although he is oblivious to Eddie's mockery of him. 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 to divest a female guest of her blouse, 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 hits the ceiling and his casts shatter, ending the episode with a close-up of him screaming in pain.

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 tying 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.
  • It is often stated, notably in the stage shows, that Eddie is unable to read or write. However, in this episode, he is seen to write 'I'm sorry, I'm a twat... ten times.'
  • Eddie, Hedgehog and Spudgun end up watching Eddie's Emmerdale Farm compilation on video. But Eddie doesn't install a video player until Carnival, the final episode of series three.
  • Richie claims at one point that he 'doesn't have time to put on (his) girl bait underpants.' This is a reference to The Young Ones
    The Young Ones (TV series)
    The Young Ones is a British sitcom, first broadcast in 1982, which ran for two series on BBC2. Its anarchic, offbeat humour helped bring alternative comedy to television in the 1980s and made household names of its writers and performers...

    episode Summer Holiday, where it is revealed that Rik Mayall's character Rick also owns a similar pair of pants.

External link

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