BY: Chris Court, PA News
Comedy star Rik Mayall today showed he was recovering in hospital from serious head injuries suffered in a quad bike crash when he asked his wife: "Why are those bastards always sticking needles into me?" "So we know he is on the mend," said Barbara Mayall. She has been at her 39-year-old husband's bedside at Derriford hospital, Plymouth, Devon, since the horrific accident a week ago.
Mrs Mayall said in a statement today: "I want to let all the people who care so much about my husband to know that he is doing really well, and that all the and flowers, faxes, telegrams and letters have been very gratefully received." She added that lucky charms sent to Mr Mayall by a young fan called Lara "have done their work".
"Rik is now awake and walking about, and his memory is returning, though still a bit patchy, but I feel like we have him back," she said. Mrs Mayall went on: "Thank you for all the love and support that as been coming our way, and thank you also from Rik."
Mr Mayall, who was badly hurt in the crash at his south Devon country retreat, was taken off breathing support equipment in the hospital's neurological ward on Tuesday. He was flown unconscious to the hospital by police helicopter after the crash at the family's Pasture Farm, set in a valley near East Allington in the South Hams. It is understood that the quad bike toppled on top of Mr Mayall as he rode across a steeply sloping field. His wife came out to see why the engine had stopped, and discovered him trapped underneath and unconscious.
Mr Mayall bought the country estate last year as a retreat for his family - his wife of 12 years and their three young children Rosie, 11, Sidney, nine, and Bonnie, two. The actor-comedian, who made his name with the Comic Strip comedy team, shot to fame in the TV series The Young Ones, The New Statesman and Bottom. On Sunday he was seen with other Comic Strip partners in the TV comedy special Four Men in a Car, which went ahead with the blessing of his family while he was in intensive care.