Blackadder star Ben Elton has revealed he and comedy legend Ronnie Barker once had a spat at a BBC Christmas party.
Ben Elton, 63, has opened up on The Chris Moyles Show about having a “fight” with his comedy hero Ronnie Barker.
The two were at a Christmas party held by the BBC when the legendary funny man accused him of swearing on TV.
Speaking to Chris Moyles on his radio show, the Blackadder star went into detail about his “shock” run-in with one of Britain’s best-loved comics.
He said: “I had a fight with Ronnie Barker in 1986 at the BBC Christmas party, it was the first time we ever met.
“He said, ‘I don’t like you’, and I was quite shocked because he was one of my heroes.
“Me, Rowan Atkinson, Stephen Fry, all young in the mid 80s and the Two Rons’ were there and for us…, he looked at Row’ and pointed, ‘I like you’, then Stephen ‘like you’, then he pointed at me and went ‘I don’t like you’.”
Ben went on: “I said ‘I’m awfully sorry to hear that Mr Barker I’m such a huge fan’ and he said, ‘You swear too much on television,’.
“And I said, ‘well Mister Barker I’m very surprised because I have never sworn on television’ and I knew I hadn’t, as if you could in the 80s, they all started doing it soon after that but I actually never have.
“We carried on talking and got through it but years later, we actually became friends.”
Ronnie Barker sadly died, aged 76, back in 2005 and is often credited as launching the careers of many famous British actors including Sir David Jason.
Ben is best known for being part of the writing geniuses that wrote The Young Ones at just 23, and went on to create Blackadder with Richard Curtis.
He has a host of famous pals but isn't starstruck as he grew up with them all when they were all starting out.
He explained: “People used to say, ‘Oh, all your friends are famous,’ but we weren’t famous when we started.
“I mean, I met Ade (Edmondson) and Rik (Mayall) at university. And then in the next couple of years I met Jenny (Saunders) and Dawn (French) and Emma (Thompson), and everyone was just starting out.
I mean, I actually had dinner with Stephen (Fry) and Hugh (Laurie) last night and that was lovely. Yeah, we’re still very close.
“But we were a lucky generation; we got our break early and I think we did well.”
Tune into The Chris Moyles Show on Radio X weekdays from 6:30am – 10am and on Global Player
