‘Young Ones’ and ‘Blackadder’ star Rik Mayall dies at 56

Tributes have poured in for comedian and actor Rik Mayall who died yesterday morning at the age of 56.

A Scotland Yard spokesman said officers were called by London Ambulance Service to a house in Barnes, south-west London at around 1.20pm where “a man, aged in his 50s, was pronounced dead at the scene”. The death is not believed to be suspicious, he added.

The star, who shot to fame playing Rick in The Young Ones, was 56 and his career included appearances in shows including Blackadder, Bottom, The New Statesman, Filthy Rich and Catflap as well as 1991 film Drop Dead Fred.