RIK MAYALL’S LAST LAUGH?

Michael Dickinson


Last week all the British papers frontpaged news of the sudden death of legendary comedian Rik Mayall (age 56) at his home in London. The outrageous comic, described by Spike Milligan as “the arsehole of British comedy”, and whose autobiography was entitled ‘Bigger Than Hitler, Better Than Christ’, had built up a huge army of dedicated followers over his more than thirty years of hilarious performances on stage, film, and TV sit-coms such as the pompus pseudo-anarchist Rik in ‘The Young Ones’, sex-obsessed benefit-scrounger Richie in ‘Bottom’, and Alan B’Stard, the greedy ultra right wing Conservative MP and weapons dealer in ‘The New Statesman’. Post mortem tests proved inconclusive as to the cause of Mayall’s death, and the Coroners Office said that it could be a matter of weeks before an explanation is reached.

Such was Rik Mayall’s fame, that eulogies and tributes have poured in from shocked friends and admirers around the world; an online campaign encouraging fans to get his spoof 2010 World Cup song 'Noble England' has boosted it to the top of the UK singles chart; and a petition to Prime Minister David Cameron calling for a State Funeral for Mayall has collected hundreds of thousands of signatures. Nostalgic clips of his brilliant performances have been re-aired aplenty on every TV channel, and the papers full of obituaries and retrospectives of his TV and filmwork - with one glaring exception.

Any mention of Mayall’s last major screen performance, a serious role in a low-budget indie film ‘One by One’ has been studiously ignored by the popular press, and is not even listed in the actor’s filmography on Wikipedia. The fact that the film has been given such scant attention is puzzling and disturbing.

Begun in 2011 and completed in 2013 after raising money for post-production costs from donations and contributions,’One by One’ was written and directed by young American Diane Jessie Miller, who studied at the New York Film School. As yet the film remains unreleased - only one screening at a festival in Newcastle, Northern Ireland in March this year so far.

Could it be that the controversial subject matter and themes of 'One by One' have caused the powers that be to pull invisible strings and deliberately suppress news coverage of the film? The idea seems uncomfortably possible.

"Who are the real puppet masters?” asks the publicity blurb. “Just suppose that you found out that, without question, there is an orchestrated event on its way to reduce the population? Could the outlandish conspiracy theories that you hear really be right? Have we all been asleep to the truth the whole time? When the men behind the curtain run out of enemies, is it us that are next? It’s time you knew… …the truth!"

“It's a film questioning the integrity and motives of the forces that govern our everyday lives,” says writer/director Miller, “ Its plot acts as a framework to raise questions about the financial system and the amount of trust we unquestionably are asked to place in our governments. I think and feel a change is needed so that we can be more aware of ourselves and to create a better future, instead of greed fuelled, capitalist, dumbing down existence that most of us just meander through.

“'One by One' has an important message that the world should hear and listen to. It feels to me that the world is in a state of unrest. From the Occupy Wall Street movement to the riots in London, there is a diverse range of unrest throughout the world and I believe, as I have seen it, that people are starting to 'Wake Up' to this change. There is a feeling of uncertainty that I see growing within people, and I want people to know they are not alone and that they are not crazy!!”

The idea of a state funeral for Rik Mayall is definitely not on the cards. Although a popular figure, he wasn’t much liked by politicians, many of whom will be glad to see the back of him. Mayall was a rebel. In a 2007 interview about an updated stage version of TV series ‘The New Statesman’, in which the formerly rabid Conservative Alan B’stard had switched to New Labour, he said:

“Although you could have thought that Alan was just a member of the right-wing me-me-me 80s generation, he’s a bigger character than that. He is not just an 80s figure – he IS British politics, or rather what it has become. He’s the evil, selfish fighter who shits on the people, who takes their money and dumps on them. Alan took the Labour Party, which used to defend the British working class, and destroyed it. He called it New Labour and picked someone from nowhere, Tony Blair, to put in front of it.

“If Tony Blair loses his job and I’ve brought him down, that’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Not many people bring down two Prime Ministers in their careers – but I’m going to do more than two. Bring me another bad one and I shall protect my British people – I brought down Thatcher to protect my people and I’m bringing down Tony to defend them, and I’ll be there for any other dangers that come along.”

Way back in November 2011, before production had begun, director Diane Jessie Miller blogged this about her project:

“I would like everybody to watch ‘One on One’, but more than that I want them to NEED to see it, anticipating its release, craving it, being impatient to see it. So without millions of pounds to throw at a marketing campaign (especially when I feel the money system is completely flawed) how do I get people so interested in ‘One by One’ that they literally can’t wait to see it?

“How do you make ‘One by One’ a Cult Classic before it’s released?”

The death of Rik Mayall has done that. We demand to see this film as soon as possible!

 http://www.onebyonethemovie.co.uk/