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Overview[]

The Young Ones is a British sitcom created in 1982 for the BBC. Two series of six episodes were filmed between 1982 and 1984, with a one-off reunion for the characters in the same year for Comic Relief, when they performed Living Doll with Cliff Richard.

Concept[]

The Young Ones takes the form of an anarchic slapstick sitcom featuring violent physical humour, cutaway gags, and frequent non-sequitur. Filmed in front of a studio audience, the action takes place primarily in the lounge/dining area of the squalid student house the four main characters inhabit [although some portions of filming, such as those where the characters left the house, were cinematic.] Written by Ben Elton, Alexei Sayle and Rik Mayall, the show epitomised the then popular alternative comedy scene of the 1980s, with the crux of the show being the exaggerated antics of university students in Thatcher's Britain.

Many of the episodes featured absurd cutaway gags, such as the focus suddenly shifting to talking rats [which end up eating each other] or an extended scene featuring the headless spectres of two Elizabethan ghosts. Often these deviations bore no relation whatsoever to the main plot. One of the most ambitious cutaway gags involved a real adult elephant.

The show also featured live performances from popular bands of the time [see section below] and short cutaways to stand-up comic sketches from popular comedians, primarily Alexei Sayle. Along with Filthy Rich & Catflap, The Young Ones is an early step in the evolution of Rik and Ade's characters from Bottom, the subject of this Wikia. The show takes its name from the 1961 Cliff Richard film, and song, of the same name.

Characters[]

Rick played by Rik Mayall

Vyvyan Basterd played by Ade Edmondson

Neil played by Nigel Planer

Mike the Cool Person played by Christopher Ryan

Various actors as The Fifth Housemate

Recurring Characters[]

The Balowski Family played by Alexei Sayle

Non-Human Characters[]

The Young Ones featured a number of non-human characters, such as talking vegetables, rodents and items of household furniture. See Non-Human Characters (The Young Ones)

Episodes[]

Series One

Title Original Air Date Summary
Demolition 9 November 1982 The Young Ones learn that their decrepit student house is to be demolished.
Oil 16 November 1982 Vyvyan discovers an oil source underneath the house.
Boring 23 November 1982 Boredom sets in for The Young Ones.
Bomb 30 November 1982 Life goes on at The Young Ones' household, despite an unexploded bomb landing in their kitchen.
Interesting 7 December 1982 The Young Ones hold their first house party.
Flood 14 December 1982 The Young Ones become trapped in the house when London floods.

Series Two

Title Original Air Date Summary
Bambi 8 May 1984 The Young Ones embark on a journey across the country and make an appearance on University Challenge.
Cash 15 May 1984 The cash-strapped boys must devise ways to stay warm and fed.
Nasty 29 May 1984 Vyvyan spends an inordinate amount time assembling a video cassette player so he can watch a video nasty,
Time 5 June 1984 Rick loses several hours of time and desperately tries to piece the events of last night back together.
Sick 12 June 1984 The Young Ones battle a nasty illness.
Summer Holiday 19 June 1984 The Young Ones are finally evicted.

Music[]

The show was notable for dedicating portions of episodes to live performances from popular bands. The various acts would perform a song in its entirety, whilst the cast of characters sat and watched, or the song played over a montage of the characters up to their various antics. Only the final episode of the first series did not feature a musical performance. The musical performances were included to force the BBC to categorise the show as 'light entertainment' rather than 'situation comedy'. as there was no budget at the time for more BBC-produced sitcoms. Click here for more info.

Trivia[]

  1. The concept of The Young Ones was conceived by Rik Mayall and Lisa Mayer, who pitched the idea to comedian and writer Ben Elton, as they knew him from their Comic Strip days. Mayall of his own admission was, at the time, not a good writer, and thought Elton could do the job of writing a script with Mayer. The three met in a pub in London in January 1981 and put together the outline of the series over drinks.
  2. The title of the show was a direct reference to the Cliff Richard song of the same name.
  3. The characters were based on real people the writers and producers knew when they were at university.
  4. The show was conceived as the antithesis of family-orientated sitcoms such as The Good Life.
  5. Lisa Mayer and Ben Elton shared writing duties on the show.
  6. The first draft of the pilot episode that Ben Elton sent to BBC producer Paul Jackson was covered in stains.
  7. Amongst the inspirations for the show were Fawlty Towers and Monty Python. In the latter's case, Rik Mayall admired the unpredictability of the show and incorporated it into The Young Ones.
  8. Peter Richardson, who often performed in the Comic Strip with Nigel Planer, was supposed to play Mike the Cool Person. However, he fell out with producer Paul Jackson, resulting in Christopher Ryan being cast instead.
  9. Alexei Sayle's appearances were generally ad-libbed and he was often used to fill gaps in the scripts. As Sayle did not want to be bound to a particular character, he was quite happy with this arrangement. He often didn't attend rehearsals because of other commitments and in the scripts his parts were labelled "Alexei's bit".
  10. One of producer Paul Jackson's favourite scenes is the one from the episode Interesting where Rik Mayall snatches Jennifer Saunders' handbag and starts playing with a tampon.
  11. Writer Lisa Mayer's favourite moment is from the episode Summer Holiday when the characters crash the bus through a billboard. The opinion was shared by Rik Mayall.
  12. Contemporary analysis of the show has compared the characters as analogues of "the people" versus Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. At the time of the show's recording and airing, there had been miners' strikes, the Falklands War, and various controversies around policing, racism, and criminal justice. These themes were often played upon to great comic effect in the show.
  13. Random flash frames were often inserted into episodes which bore no relation to the plot, such as a jumping frog, a dripping tap, and a freeze frame of the end credits of a Western movie. The gag was inserted to give VHS collectors something to obsess over, but largely generated complaints from viewers who thought the producers were trying to insert subliminal messages into the viewing experience. The point of the flash frames was intended to culminate in a final flash frame in the last episode which explained why these frames were used, but was actually dropped following a meeting with the BBC. Thus, the multi-episode gag was never truly realised.
  14. Another running gag, albeit in the first series only, was the appearance of a mysterious Fifth Housemate who never speaks and is never acknowledged by the other characters.
  15. Adrian Edmondson was not fond of the cutaway gags which invariably featured talking vegetables or animals, as he thought the dynamic of the four main characters provided an adequate amount of comedy.
  16. Mark Arden and Stephen Frost appeared in several roles throughout the series, usually in cutaway gags that bore no relation to the plot. Arden and Frost were allowed to write and perform their own material for these segments.
  17. Writer Lisa Mayer states that she has often re-watched episodes and found the cheap set design and practical effects cringeworthy, however in hindsight recognises that these shortcomings added to the aesthetic of the show.
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