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THE YOUNG ONES:

Mayall and Edmondson had set up a double-act called Twentieth Century Coyote, and then later created the manic "Dangerous Brothers", Nigel Planer (Neil) and Peter Richardson were also a double-act entitled The Outer Limits. The original plan for The Young Ones would have throw these two double-acts together. Richardson however was said to have fallen out with Paul Jackson on Boom Boom Out go the Lights and was replaced by actor Christopher Ryan

The series depicted a flat share from hell, with four anarchic, lazy, dysfunctional students living on the breadline and hating and abusing one another. A large range of bizarre ideas was tethered to the loosest storylines and confusion was deliberately added by sudden cutaways to characters and situations not involved in the plot. The show also had musical guests

The Young Ones found a cult audience right away - students and young adults in the 16-25-year-old band - but it wasn't until repeat screenings that the series began to amass a sizeable audience.

After the first series, the TV cast toured a stage version of The Young Ones, which played 23 decent-sized venues around Britain from February to May 1983. The show was introduced by Rik Mayall in his 'Kevin Turvey' persona and initially was wildly overlong.

The second TV series was more confident and assured than the first and was also treated more seriously recieving a Radio Times front cover.

The second series of The Young Ones maintained a very high quality and, at the same time, demonstrated a maturation of the acting and writing talent. In the final episode, 'Summer Holiday', the main characters were killed off when their double-decker bus exploded after tumbling over a cliff.

Despite their end, the team have reappeared, usually at fund-raising events and most memorably when singing along with Cliff Richard to 'Living Doll'. And in July 1984 Nigel Planer stepped out as Neil to release a hippy-dippy cover version of Traffic's 'Hole In My Shoe', which peaked at number two.

The Young Ones featured many other members of the comedy cabaret circuit in guest roles, many appearing on TV for the first time. These included: Mark Arden and Stephen Frost, Keith Allen, Helen Atkinson Wood, Jim Barclay, Chris Barrie, Arnold Brown, Robbie Coltrane, Lee Cornes, Andy de la Tour, Ben Elton, Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders, Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie, Gareth Hale and Norman Pace, Lenny Henry, Helen Lederer, Norman Lovett, Pauline Melville, Paul Merton, Daniel Peacock, David Rappaport, Tony Robinson and Emma Thompson. More established stars such as Mel Smith and Griff Rhys Jones and Terry Jones also appeared.

CHARACTERS:

RICK - A political anarchist studying Sociology (or Domestic Science) who was a poetic genius, adored Cliff Richard and rude words. Clothing usually consisted of a grey school shirt which is far too small at the neck, a black blazer, and dark blue jeans with a very large turn-up, although he has been known to wear other clothes such as his yellow dungarees for special occasions. He enjoys being incredibly mean to Neil.

VYVYAN - A violent medical punk student who liked lager and curries who has orange hair and four metal stars glued to his forehead. The back of his jacket says VERY METAL. His pet was Special Patrol Group (SPG), a Scottish hamster with an attitude,He is the most violent of the gang, typically enjoying demolishing parts of the house,and inflicting lots of pain on Rick.

NEIL - Neil does the cooking and cleaning for the household.His mission in life is to kill himself, which he attempts several times throughout the series.He spends a lot of time on the toilet and is regularly beaten about the head by other members of the household.

MIKE - Personally nicknamed 'Mike the Cool Person'.He acts as the leader of the group,the best dressed of the bunch, generally wearing a suit or golfing slacks, and has ensured that the House Rules clearly state that he is exempt from any of the mundane cooking and cleaning tasks.

THE BOLOWSKI FAMILY - Alexei Sayle played different members of the Balowski family throughout both series, as well as Jerzei,he also played Alexei Yuri Balowski, Billy Balowski, Reggie Balowski, Jester Balowski, and Brian Damage Balowski. Other roles he played were a train driver, a South African Vampire, and a Mussolini look-a-like Policeman/Cabaret Singer.

SEASON ONE
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1. Demolition

2. Oil

3. Boring

4. Bomb

5. Interesting

6. Flood

SEASON TWO

1. Bambi

2. Cash

3. Nasty

4. Sick

5. Time

6. Summer Holiday

TRIVIA

Despite being set in North London, the external scenes were actually filmed in Bristol, just over 100 miles away - the show's producer, Paul Jackson, lived in Bristol at the time. The house used for the external scenes is situated in Codrington Road, Bristol.

The reason for including a performance by a live band in each episode was that this caused the BBC to categorize the show as "Light Entertainment" rather than "Situation Comedy", which meant it got a higher budget.

Rik Mayall once remarked in an interview that The Young Ones were designed to be a nuclear family, with Neil as the mother, Mike as the father figure, Vyvyan as the rebellious young son and Rick as the daughter (complete with pigtails).

Was one of the first BBC shows to be have its location scenes videotaped rather than filmed (save for a couple of scenes - the Dallas (1978) spoof in "Time" and the red bus in "Summer Holiday" were shot on film). Prior to this (and was common until the end of the 1980s) film was used for location shooting due to the fact that videotape equipment was too cumbersome and unportable.

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