Adrian Edmondson
Adrian Edmondson was born in Bradford, Yorkshire. He went to Manchester University to study drama. Whilst he was there he met Rik Mayall, and the pair began performing as 20th Century Coyote. The act continued after university when Adrian & Rik moved to London, and they became two of the leading lights in the new 'alternative comedy' scene, performing at the newly established Comedy Store, and setting up their own club, The Comic Strip, with 'Peter Richardson', Nigel Planer, Jennifer Saunders, Dawn French, and Alexei Sayle. This spawned two 1980s TV series: The Young Ones (1982), and The Comic Strip Presents... (1982) In the 1990's Ade & Rik continued their partnership with a new series called Bottom (1991), which ran for three seasons and became a major success on the live circuit. It was basically a live sitcom, liberally sprinkled with slapstick humour, and the pair did 5 long tours between 1993 and 2003. Simultaneously, Adrian established himself as an actor, doing two improvised TV films under the Screen One and Screen Two umbrella, with director Les Blair: Screen Two: Honest, Decent and True (1986), and Screen One: News Hounds (1990) (winner of the BAFTA for best single drama). He was a regular in the hospital drama Holby City (1999) from 2005 - 2008. He took the lead in a drama documentary about the Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster in the series Surviving Disaster (2006), and appeared as Henry Austen in the TV movie Miss Austen Regrets (2008), the film Blood (2012), and the drama series Prey (2014). But his most notable dramatic role to date is that of Count Rostov in the BBC series War & Peace (2016).
Acting
Movie
Star Wars: The Last Jedi
as Captain Peavey
2017
TV
3 Body Problem
as Denys Porlock
2024
TV
Alien: Earth
as Atom Eins
2025
TV
Blackadder
as Baron von Richtoven
1983
TV
Midsomer Murders
as Hugo Welles
1997
TV
Death in Paradise
as Charles Crabtree
2011
TV
Genius
as David Hilbert
2017
TV
The Graham Norton Show
as Self
2007
TV
War and Peace
as Ilya Rostov
2016
TV
Absolutely Fabulous
as Hamish
1992
Movie
Blood
as Tom Tiernan
2012
Movie
Guest House Paradiso
as Eddie Elizabeth Ndingombaba
1999
TV
The Young Ones
as Vyvyan
1982
TV
Bottom
as Edward Elizabeth Hitler
1991
TV
Would I Lie to You?
as Self
2007
TV
One of Us
as Peter Elliot
2016
TV
Jonathan Creek
as Brendan Baxter
1997
TV
A Spy Among Friends
as Sir Roger Hollis
2022
Movie
Miss Austen Regrets
as Henry Austen
2008
TV
Back to Life
as John Boback
2019
TV
Upstart Crow
as Dogberry
2016
TV
Prey
as DCI Warner
2014
TV
Holby City
as Percy "Abra" Durant
1999
TV
Save Me
as Gideon Charles
2018
Crew
Movie
Guest House Paradiso
Director
1999
TV
Bottom
Writer
1991
Movie
Bottom Live 2001: An Arse Oddity
Writer
2001
TV
The Comic Strip Presents...
Writer
1982
Movie
Mr Jolly Lives Next Door
Writer
1988
Movie
Bad News
Writer
1983
Movie
More Bad News
Director
1988
TV
Teenage Kicks
Creator
2008
Movie
Mirrorball
Director
2000
Movie
Bottom: Exposed
Director
2024
Movie
The Comic Strip
Writer
1981
Honest Decent & True
Theme Song Performance
1986