The film is semi-officially based on their comedy television series Bottom (in some territories, the DVD cover refers to it as The Bottom Movie). The key difference in the characters is in their surnames: Mayall's character, known as "Richard Richard" in the TV show, is here referred to as "Richard Twat" (although he regularly and angrily insists on the pronunciation "Thwaite"). Edmondson's character changes from "Edward Elizabeth Hitler" in the TV/live show to "Edward Elizabeth Ndingombaba". Despite this difference, both characters retain the same personalities as their TV counterparts. The film was made at Ealing studios and on location on the Isle of Wight.