He wasn't that old , was he ? 

He couldn't have been Baz... 50's?     

 That has really shocked and saddened me! He was only in his 50's.

 

He was 56.

He was only 56

No age at all

I can't believe it - how sad 

There seems to be no info at all, simply an announcement from his management company that he has died.

OMG ............I'm totally shocked I wonder what's happened.

Comedian and actor Rik Mayall has died aged 56, his management has said.

Mayall was best-known for the TV shows The Young Ones and Bottom, both of which he starred alongside Adrian Edmondson.

He was also in several other programmes including The New Statesman, The Comic Strip Presents and Blackadder.

The star was left seriously ill after a quad bike accident in 1998 which left him in a coma for several days.

But he was working until recently.

It is thought his wife found him and his death is not believed to be suspicious. 

A London Ambulance Service spokesman said they were called to the house at 12:07.

Mayall found fame playing Rick in The Young Ones which ran from 1982 to 1984 in two six-part series.

The show featured anarchic, offbeat humour and it helped to bring alternative comedy to television in the 1980s.

He returned to work with a guest role in that year's Jonathan Creek Christmas Special. He continued to work until recently.

Mayall is survived by his wife Barbara Robbins, who he married in 1985, and their three children Rosie, Sidney and Bonnie.

 

 

I loved him as Alan B*stard

 

Thats so so sad...he seemed to be returning to form playing Greg Davies's evil father in Man Down.

 

I'm shocked

Very sad news

He was brilliant in that. Also as Alan B'stard. Sad news.

RIP! His greatest gift to our household, as a feminist poetry group was his poem, "Theatre!"
........ But I don't know Vanessa Redgrave.
Classic stuff.

really shocked about this 

More on this sad news on the BBC website:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-27770266

He died at home, the cause of death has not been given. His management team sya that a further statement will be issued in the fullness of time.

 

 

Poor Rik

 

Massive shock - Grew up watching his comedy on TV.

 

Young Ones and Alan B*stard stand out but also liked him in Blackadder.

 

Only 56

 

 

 

I'm indebted to Queen of the High Teas in the other place for posting this poignant piece.......,,
This house will become a shrine, and punks and skins and rastas will all gather round and hold their hands in sorrow for their fallen leader. And all the grown-ups will say, "But why are the kids crying?" And the kids will say, "Haven't you heard? Rick is dead! The People's Poet is dead!" And then one particularly sensitive and articulate teenager will say, "Other kids, do you understand nothing? How can Rick be dead when we still have his poems?"

Th e comedian would probably have struggled with the Twitter tributes, having been scornful about the social network in his one and only tweet.

He wrote in April 2010: 'Opening my very own Twitter to stop another b****** from doing it. So f*** off and don't expect to hear from me anytime soon. Live Rik x'.

True to his word he never tweeted again.

 

 

stunned when I heard this news, very sad 

RIP Rik.  Along with Vic and Bob (possibly), probably given me more belly laughs than any other comedian I can think of. 

 

I'm of the generation who remembers the Young Ones first time around.  It hasn't aged well, admittedly.  We'd just got a VCR and the novelty of taping and watching TV programs was a new thing.  I would watch the Young Ones over an over again and Rik's obnoxious Cliff Richard loving pretentious anarchist character was the funniest and most quotable.  After all these years I can still remember Rik's character saying, "I'm not a fridge, you know".

 

The Young Ones totally blew the old guard comedy away, IMO.  I recall almost gasping for breath watching Richard Richard and Edward Hitler beating the crap out of a burglar in Bottom.

 

As Greg Davies' dad in the recent C4 comedy "Man Down" Rik was a scene stealer in every scene he was in.

 

Whenever I've seen interviews with him, he always seemed a really decent, humble, polite and down to earth bloke. 

 

Great comedian top bloke!

 

 

Genuinely shocked when I heard this.

And only 56 FGS...

A massive, massive shock

Gone far too soon

Rik you were epic

Lovely tributes to him on the Jeremy Vine show today

Jake Humphrey @mrjakehumphrey  ·  23h

Has the cause of his death been disclosed yet?

 

And .............^^ I'm in agreement with Carnelian re Vic and Bob - I've recently been re watching some of their stuff on GOLD , they still make me howl with laughter.

It is very weird that they haven't said anything about cause of death, tho didn't he suffer a bad head injury some years back and was in a coma for a long time.. not sure if that was related.. so sad at such a young age

after the injury he suffered from epilepsy although he wouldn't say epilepsy, I know there is SUDEP (sudden death in epilepsy)  for which there seems no reason for death, but this is only me speculating...

Machel, a few things I've read they seem to be suggesting that it might have been a seizure. But like you say at the moment it's just speculation.

The comedian and actor Rik Mayall seemed "happy and healthy" just moments before he died aged 56, a family friend said on Tuesday.

Peter Richardson, 62, who co-founded the Comic Strip, described how his son had been with Mayall just half an hour before the actor died on Monday, describing his friend as having "chatted away happily". He said that Mayall had "seemed so happy and so healthy".

Richardson spoke of his shock at his friend's sudden death, telling the BBC: "We still don't know quite what happened, but it was a seizure of some sort. It was very quick."

Referring to Mayall's near-fatal quad bike accident in 1998, which left him in a coma for five days, Richardson said: "Well, he had 16 years after the quad bike – at the time I don't think people thought he would survive that. But he lived for another 16 years. It was just shocking that he went."

The comedian's cause of death is still unexplained, but his Scots wife, Barbara, 62, said he had had "a strong heart", and added: "'I don't think it was a heart attack. Maybe he had a fit, maybe it was his heart. We just don't know."

The police confirmed they were not treating the death as suspicious.

 

A post-mortem examination is being carried out to establish how comedian Rik Mayall died.

The actor, 56, who died at his home in Barnes, southwest London, on Monday, was best known for the TV shows The Young Ones and Bottom, in which he starred alongside long-time collaborator Adrian Edmondson.

A spokeswoman for West London Coroner's Court said: "The death has been referred to the West London Coroner and I understand a post-mortem examination may be carried out (on Thursday)."

His daughter Bonnie led the tributes describing him as her "generous, foul-mouthed and hysterical father".

She wrote on Facebook: "My dad was loved not only by my family, but by many many others. We will never forget him and neither will the world.

"R.I.P to the man, the myth, the legend - my wonderful, generous, foul-mouthed and hysterical father. My idol now and forever."

Edmondson paid tribute to his friend, saying: "There were times when Rik and I were writing together when we almost died laughing.

"They were some of the most carefree stupid days I ever had, and I feel privileged to have shared them with him.

"And now he's died for real. Without me. Selfish b*****d."

It was his funeral today. R.I.P Mr Mayall

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-27918484