The Young Ones, Why It’s A Great Show

The Young Ones was a BBC2 blast of fresh air.  First shown in the autumn / winter of 1982 between 9 November and 14 December, it was written by Rick Mayall and his then girlfriend Lise Mayer, with some bloke called Ben Elton also chipping in.  It didn’t say it, but perhaps it should have – Caution, this show is not for parents!

The show starred Mayall, Ade Edmondson, Christopher Ryan, Nigel Planer as students (P)Rick, Vyvyan, Mike (The Coolperson) and Neil Pye.  Alexei Sayle also appeared as their landlord, supposed eastern European immigrant, Jerzei Balowski.

The show was actually quite an ensemble piece, with cameos from such (alternative) comedy luminaries as Fry and Laurie, Tony Robinson, Robbie Coltrane, Hale and Pace(!), French and Saunders, Frost and Arden, Terry Jones (‘has anyone done the stiffy joke’), Ben Elton, Mel and Griff, Lenny Henry.  Emma Thompson even put in an appearance!  Then there was the music from seminal 80′s performers like Motörhead (If you like to gamble, baby I’m your man’), Madness (who did two shows), Dexy’s Midnight Runners, Ken Bishop’s Nice Twelve, The Dammed plus Rip, Rig and Panic (which included Neneh Cherry) and Amazulu.

In my opinion, the best episode of the first seriesis the second episode of The Young Ones first series, Oil (surprisingly given the title, not the Dallas spoof).  No, this one saw the boys decamp to their new house. Its surreal tone was set by the opening scene when the statue outside the front door complains bitterly, ‘More bloody students’, and is told by the sunflower stood next to him to, ‘…shut up and put some clothes on.’

Soon after they get in through the front door, Mike tells Neil that the big pile of letters on the mat must be bills.  ‘Who’s Bill?’, Neil asks to camera.  Absolutely blinding!

It is Vyvyan who strikes oil in the cellar, and after instructing Neil and Rik that there will be a house meeting in the broom cupboard at nine in the morning, they all go off to sleep on it.  Unfortunately for Rik and Neil, this is a plot by Mike and Vyvyan to seize control of the oil and force Neil and Rik to dig it…

The music is provided by Alexei Sayle (?!) with the band Radical Posture with a song about Dr. Marten’s boots!  There is also a small cameo from Buddy Holly – yes, Buddy Holly.  Apparently he had been stuck, upside down and wrapped in his parachute in the house for the past 20 years.  And of course there were the two chaps holidaying in the cellar…