TV chiefs had been planning a new series of Bottom with the characters as older men, but it was never made due to Rik Mayall’s death.
Scripts were written for the comedy show and filming was due to begin in 2014, almost 20 year after it ended.
Rik and Adrian Edmondson would have reprised their roles as loser flatmates Richie Richard and Eddie Hitler – in an old people’s home.
But Rik died of a heart attack aged 56 while out jogging in June that year. TV art director Richard Drew revealed the existence of the lost series.
He had been working with the comedy star on Man Down when asked to design new sets for the latest version of Bottom, which would have had a different title.
Richard told the One Foot In The Podcast: “There was talk of doing a follow-up to Bottom with Ade and Rik.
“I got the script actually. I won’t say it what it was called. I was asked by Ed Bye, the director, to look at it. Sadly, it only exists as a script and a couple of sketches that was as far as we got.”
Recalling the moment he was told of Rik’s death, Richard added: “We were set to do series two of Man Down, and then I got a call which went, ‘I’ve got some really bad news, Rik has passed away.’”
Bottom originally aired on BBC2 from September 1991 to April 1995.
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