Whilst in Nottingham filming his new show Doctors & Nurses, Ade was interviewed by The Nottingham Evening Post.

Healthy dose of television

Mention television to Adrian Edmondson and the star of The Young Ones and Bottom becomes quite serious. "It's going downhill fiercely," he says in his dressing room at Carlton TV studios in Lenton Lane.

"Looking back to the 1970s it was, I think, the golden age, with comedies like Fawlty Towers and Porridge.

"There are still good shows, like The Office and Absolutely Fabulous. So the cream is still there, and it will rise to the top. "But there are so many things you don't want to watch. Too much reality TV and makeovers.  They'll make over anything, houses, gardens. It goes on for ever." Certainly Absolutely Fabulous is compulsory viewing, not least because Edmondson is married to Jennifer Saunders, who plays the dreadful Edina (Eddy) opposite Joanna Lumley's equally frightful gin-swigging fashion publicist Patsy.

He and Ms Saunders have been together 19 years and have three teenage daughters.

Which leads to a confession.

At home on their Devon farm they watch MTV.

Occasionally? "Well no, actually I rather like it." That, and the Paramount comedy channel on satellite, about sums it up for him.

Which is actually why he's in Nottingham, making a new comedy, Doctors and Nurses.

Although it is being shot at Carlton Studios, it is actually for BBC One, and will be shown early next year.

The show sees him playing an orthopaedic surgeon, committed to the value of the National Health Service.

Madhav Sharma plays his opposite number, who is equally committed to lining his pockets, working privately on the side.

The cast also includes Stephen Alvin from the BBC comedy Beast, Sharpe star Abigail Cruttenden and Nottingham-born actress Susan Earl.

Edmondson, 46, was born in Bradford, and educated at public school in east Yorkshire.

He met his comedy partner Rik Mayall at university in Manchester where they were both studying drama.

And it was at that time he first started visiting Nottingham.

"It was in the 70s and I was going out with a girl from Nottingham.

"We used to spend our holidays at her parents' home in Mapperley. I had holiday jobs at Pork Farms, making pork pies, and at John Player & Sons.

"I enjoyed being in Nottingham, and I have visited since, with stage tours of Bottom." Fair-haired and blue eyed, he's 6ft tall and looks younger than his 46 years.

In Doctors and Nurses he appears very much as he is. No wigs or any other discernable alteration to his appearance.

He also thinks the comedy is worthwhile, for a number of reasons.

"It actually came to me as a ready-written script. It's not often you're offered parts," says Edmondson, who also appears in BBC One's Jonathan Creek.

"I liked the script because as well as being very funny, it's also passionate." Penned by a doctor, Phil Hammond and his writing partner Nigel Smith, who had a protracted stay in hospital recently after a serious accident, it's also deeply satirical.

Look for the knockabout comedy of the Doctor in the House series and you'll find it missing. Comedy then, with a serious edge.

There is, however, a curious link with the past for Edmondson. Weird Vyvyan, in The Young Ones was actually a medical student.

Edmondson spent some time at the Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead, London, with a consultant orthopaedic surgeon, preparing himself for the part.

"The character I play is passionately committed to the health service.

"He'd willingly work another 40 hours week on top of the 100 hours he already puts in.

"He'll save the NHS single-handed...if he could.

"It"s not a wacky sitcom. It has a lot to say," adds Edmondson, on his way out to film the next scene.