Mayall had made a name for himself in TV shows such as The Young Ones, Blackadder, Filthy Rich & Catflap, and The New Statesman, but Baldwin said presenting a children’s programme was “a natural progression” for him.
“He was a multi-dimensional performer,” explained Baldwin. “In Grim Tales, he was sometimes playing five characters in each story.
“He was playing the character, the actor playing the characters, and himself watching the actor playing the characters, sometimes all within the same breath.
“Every actor has a contract with the audience to suspend disbelief. But somehow, Rik was complicit with the audience in that disbelief, he was never above it.
“So the kids just warmed to it, I think, because they felt he was one of them.”