Filthy Rich & Catflap
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Image:FilthyRich&Catflap.jpg Filthy Rich & Catflap was a BBC sitcom produced in 1986 and broadcast early the next year.
The series featured former The Young Ones stars Nigel Planer, Rik Mayall and Adrian Edmondson as its three title characters respectively. It was written by Ben Elton with "additional material" credited to Mayall. One series of six half-hour episodes was produced (although the notion of a second series is played upon in the final episode).
Although the series gained respectable viewing figures, it did not quite capture the imagination in the way its father programme, The Young Ones, did. That said, some have regarded this series to be superior. While some parts of the show have dated (particularly the topical satire aimed at Margaret Thatcher and her government) the main theme of the cult of celebrity and the pursuit of it by the talentless remained relevant.
The style of humour - relying heavily on fart jokes, broad satire, violent slapstick and vulgarity in general - was very similar to that which Edmondson and Mayall would continue in the far more successful Bottom.
The series enjoyed a resurgence of interest in 2004 when it was officially released on DVD by independent DVD production company Playback.
Characters
- Ralph Filthy (Planer) is Richie's showbiz agent. He has, to quote writer Elton, "the morals of a dog caught short on a croquet lawn". Quote: "Boys. It's not often I get excited but right now I feel like I've been locked in an off-licence".
- Richie Rich (Mayall) is a perennially 'resting' (out of work) actor whose most prominent work to date includes links on TVS. Despite this, he considers himself a veritable superstar and has paranoid delusions about everyone he meets wanting to either cash in on his fame or assassinate him. Hence, he hires a bodyguard...
- Edward 'Didgeridoo' Catflap (Edmondson) is Richie's faithless minder; permanently drunk, disloyal, violent and unapologetically working class. Occasionally, Catflap holds up the pretense of being the best friend of Rich, although this is usually for personal gain. (Edmondson's character in Bottom, Eddie Hitler, is similar, but not identical.)
During the run of the series Richie kills several milkmen, Eddie blackmails Richie with a paternity suit scam, Ralph gets sent to prison and hung, Richie meets The Nolans, They spoof newspaper tycoon Rupert Murdoch and feature bodyguards wearing uniforms that previously featured in the sci-fi show Blake's 7. Richie goes on a panel game called "Ooer, Sounds a Bit Rude", the show uses the sets from the BBC quiz show Blankety Blank. Richie finally becomes famous by slandering everyone in showbiz and becoming the only person censors deem clean enough to host every show on television.
As well as the Nolans, other people appearing as themselves" included Midge Ure and Anne Diamond. The show also featured cameos by Barbara Windsor, Lynda Bellingham, Jools Holland and a then-unknown David Baddiel. Contemporaries from the alternative comedy scene who also appeared included Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie, Helen Lederer and Mel Smith.