Mel Smith’s gambling spiralled from £500 bets to £50,000 wagers, Griff Rhys Jones reveals 

Mel Smith’s millionaire windfall saw his gambling spiral as he swapped £500 bets for enormous £50,000 wagers after selling the TalkBack production company for £62 million, according to co-founder Griff Rhys Jones.

Suddenly having access to millions led to the comedian seeking greater thrills with much bigger sums and larger risks.

In 1981, duo Smith and Jones formed the company which went on to produce influential British comedy shows including I’m Alan Partridge, Smack the Pony and Da Ali G Show.

In 2000 they decided to sell to Pearson in a £62 million sale which meant – as well as £32 million turnover the previous year – Smith, Jones and managing director Peter Fincham each pocketed roughly £20 million.

Speaking to Idler magazine about adjusting to life with new-found fortunes, 69 year old Jones said: ‘Mel liked to lay a bet and when he had a lot of money he liked to lay a huge bet.

Griff and Mel with Pamela Stephenson and Rowan Atkinson starring in Not The Nine O’Clock News in 1980

‘I don’t know anything about gambling, never liked it.

‘But if before coming rich he’d been in the habit of putting down £500 on the gee-gees, then the thrill of that would wear off if you’ve just made £22 million quid.

‘So it might be more of a thrill to lay bets of £50,000.

‘But I don’t judge him.’

Smith, who famously appeared in Not The Nine O’Clock News alongside Griff Rhys Jones, died age 60 in 2013 after suffering a heart attack.

He had endured health problems for some time.

During an appearance on Celebrity Mastermind in 2009, Smith had appeared frail and slurred his words.

He was taken to hospital days after the show was recorded and said later: ‘My throat specialist feared I had cancer. I spent three weeks in agony in hospital. It turned out I had a virulent throat infection.’ 

Iconic: Griff Rhys Jones with Mel in their classic sketch series sitting across a table from each other

In 2000, Smith revealed that he had conquered a seven-year addiction to over-the-counter painkillers.

He said he downed handfuls of the drug Nurofen Plus ‘like Smarties’ after developing gout which spread from his feet to his wrists, elbows and knees, causing excruciating pain. 

In 1999 he was rushed to hospital with ulcers after the drugs had stripped away his stomach lining.

The withdrawal symptoms caused him to experience a severe depressive episode but was supported by his devoted wife Pam.

‘It was my dark secret and I got deeply depressed,’ he said then.

He had been a director since his university days in Oxford, and had great success behind the camera with films such as Bean, The Tall Guy and Blackball.

Though he and Jones sold Talkback in 1999 to Freemantle, Smith remained one of the key figures in UK comedy.

In 2007, Smith took to the West End stage to play Wilbur Turnblad in the hit show Hairspray alongside Michael Ball.