Rik Mayalls Favourite Artist on The Young Ones Was Cliff Richard

Mayall played obnoxious, poetry-writing anarchist Rick in The Young Ones, a man obsessed with Cliff Richard, starring alongside his friend and comedy partner Adrian Edmondson as Vyvyan.

The pop star also paid tribute to Mayall, saying: "I became a fan of his when he was in The Young Ones show and was always thrilled when he used my name during his series. ... Stephen Fry wrote on Twitter from a transatlantic flight: "Crossing ...

Photograph: Photos 12/Alamy · The pair's big break came in 1982 with the cult BBC sitcom The Young Ones, which Mayall penned with Ben Elton and Lise Mayer. In the series, Mayall played Rick, a sociology student with a penchant for Cliff Richard, ...

Rik Mayall (Rick), speaking to the Guardian in 1987 Rick is just self-centred … He wants street cred, wants to be a rebel, to care about nothing and be an anarchist.

It was known for anti-establishment humour and for parodies such as Bad News on Tour, a spoof "rockumentary" starring Mayall, Richardson, Edmondson and Planer as a heavy metal band. At the time The Comic Strip Presents... was negotiated, the BBC took an interest in The Young Ones, a sitcom written by Mayall and his then-girlfriend Lise Mayer, in the same anarchic vein as Comic Strip. Ben Elton joined the writers. The series was commissioned and first broadcast in 1982, shortly after Comic Strip. Mayall played Rick, a pompous sociology student and Cliff Richard devotee.

The series' opening theme song featured the cast singing Cliff Richard and The Shadows's UK No. 1 song "The Young Ones" (1961), the title song from the film of the same name. Throughout the series there are many references to Richard, as Mayall's character is a devoted fan.

On 21 June 2016, the BBC apologised ... broadcast. On 27 September 2016, the Crown Prosecution Service announced that the decision not to prosecute Richard over claims of historical sex offences had been upheld....

The boy was embarrassed and tongue-tied, and of course nobody really knew what to say, so his mother asked Rik to write something for the boy on a tour poster. I did not envy Rik at that moment; what can you write, off the cuff, to a dying boy who adores you? In what I feel was a moment of inspiration Rik wrote a quote from Cliff Richard's old song which Rik had sung over the titles of the series.