The Young Ones 

The crazy and sometimes surreal comedic adventures of four very different students in Thatcher's Britain.

Stars:

Rik Mayall, Adrian Edmondson, Nigel Planer

1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Series cast summary:
Adrian Edmondson	...	Vyvyan / ... 12 episodes, 1982-1984
Rik Mayall	...	Rick / ... 12 episodes, 1982-1984
Nigel Planer	...	Neil / ... 12 episodes, 1982-1984
Christopher Ryan	...	Mike / ... 12 episodes, 1982-1984
Alexei Sayle	...	the Balowski Family / ... 12 episodes, 1982-1984
Mark Arden	...	Boy in Comic Strip / ... 7 episodes, 1982-1984
Stephen Frost	...	Bank Vault Manager / ... 7 episodes, 1982-1984
Ben Elton	...	Baz / ... 5 episodes, 1982-1984

Storyline

Vyvyan (Adrian Edmondson), Rick (Rik Myall), Mike (Christopher Ryan), and Neil (Nigel Planer) are four college students who share a house in North London: Vyvyan is a violent punk who smashes everything to pieces, Rick is a political fan of Cliff Richard, Mike is the serious and bossy cool person, and Neil is the depressed hippie who does most of the cooking and cleaning in the house, and his only desire is to commit suicide. Vyvyan, Rick, Mike, and Neil pay their rent to their Russian landlord Jerzy Balowski (Alexei Sayle) and his various family members. The world of this show is surreal, hilarious, and violent as the show also interacts with other characters, and featured live performances from bands.

---

Plot Keywords:

surreal | british humour | narcissist | written by star | 1980s | 

---

Genres:

Comedy

---

Did You Know?

Trivia

Rik Mayall, Adrian Edmondson, and Nigel Planer reunited for the sitcom Filthy Rich & Catflap (1987), which was also written by Ben Elton.

---

Alternate Versions

The original episodes when first broadcast were 35 minutes long. Some repeat showings were edited versions running 30 minutes long, abridging various bits of material from each one.

---

Connections

Referenced in De slimste mens ter wereld: Episode #10.22 (2017)

---

Soundtracks

The Young Ones
(theme)
Written by Sid Tepper and Roy C. Bennett
Sung by the cast

User Reviews

The Great Surrealist Sitcom.

The Young Ones may be an obscurity in the USA, but here in Australia its fondly remembered. We first heard rumours of it back in about '82, then someone sneaked in a crappy tape of 'Bomb'. We sat and watched it in awe. This was The Great British Surrealist sitcom; the logical next step from The Goons and Monty Python. It was appallingly, daringly head and shoulders above everything else from the 80's (oh, alright, except Black Adder. Especially Black Adder II).

Four students: a hippy, a punk, a would-be anarchist who secretly loves Cliff Richard, and... Mike, 'the cool person' - who appears to be throughly normal. Except he isn't. In fact, when you really take a close look at him, Mike is actually stranger than all the others put together. Half of his lines make little or no sense. He said something once about a sheepdog, which struck me as one of the strangest lines I've ever heard on television. But anyway, he is still nominally the anchor of normality around which all the madness rotates.

Using Python's rapid-cut technique, and employing a similar lack of concern for continuity, a Young Ones episode is a rollercoaster of surrealism, violence and squalor (the latter two elements taken to even greater extremes by Mayall and Edmonson in 'Bottom'). Episodes are suddenly interrupted by the appearance of Benito Mussolini, singing a song called 'Stupid Noises', or by various other manifestations of Russian landlord Alexai Sayle, who is inclined to go into stand up comedy routines and address the audience, much to the confusion of everyone else on set. Images of garden taps or insects are flashed on screen for a fraction of a second, scenes cartwheel off in all directions: a family of peasants in the adjoining room sit huddled round a lamp, a wardrobe leads into the realms of Narnia, an unexploded atomic bomb lands in the middle of the kitchen, vegetables in the fridge talk to each other, and Motorhead just happen to be in the loungeroom, performing 'Ace of Spades'.

Someobody else said that this series hit Britain like bombshell. It's effect was similar in Australia. It never spawned any imitators - the rest of the 80's seemed to be given over to dreary political satire, but it is undeniably one of the great English sitcoms - even if, now and then, it drags its feet just a little.

Like Fawlty Towers, it ran for only two series, but when they were over, it had breached countless boundaries of bad taste and absurdity, introduced the writing talents of Ben Elton, the careers of Rik Mayall, Alexei Sayle, Nigel Planer, Dawn French and Adrian Edmonson, and made the godawful, bland, mid 80's bearable for a few people like me.

Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

30 March 1998 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Young Ones

Filming Locations:

Bristol North Swimming Baths, Gloucester Road, Bristol, England, UK

Company Credits

Production Co:

British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

410 min 35 min (12 episodes)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1