The Young Ones (TV Series 1982–1984) - Plot Summary - IMDb - Written by Alexander Lum <aj_lum@postoffice.utas.edu.au> Vivian, Rick, Mike and Neil are four college students who share a house in North London: Vivian is a violent punk who smashes everything to pieces, Rick is a political fan of Cliff Richards, 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. Vivian, Rick, Mike and Neil's pay their rent to their Russian landlord Jerzey Bolowski and his various family members. The world of "The Young Ones" is surreal, hilarious and violent as the show also interacts with other characters in "The Young Ones" world and features live performances from bands. The Young Ones (Series) - TV Tropes The Young Ones You need to login to do this. Get Known if you don't have an account Share Timeline L to R: (P)Rick , Mikenote the cool person, Neil Pye and Vyvyan Basterd. "What's the difference?

There'll be plenty of chicks for these tigers on the road to the promised land. This is it. It's really happening. Who needs qualifications? Who cares about Thatcher and unemployment? We can do just exactly whatever we want to do. And you know why? Because we're Young Ones . Bachelor boys. Crazy, mad, wild-eyed, big-bottomed anarchists." — Rick, moments before everyone dies . A demented British comedy about four impoverished nutcases sharing a squalid student house. Episodes were rambling and unstructured, frequently wandering off to unrelated comedy skits or musical numbers. Surreal and/or incomprehensible jokes were aplenty, frequently making light of the acrimonious political climate of 1980s Britain, and violent slapstick abounded. The action would often and suddenly shift into animation, claymation or some form of puppetry . Bands often appeared on the show to perform, usually completely at random (as a financial device, as the inclusion of music performances got the show classified as variety instead of light entertainment, thereby earning a higher budget). Numerous episodes ended with everybody dying .

So basically, it's La Bohï¿½me meets The Three Stooges set in the early 1980s . The show lasted two seasons, for a total of 12 episodes .

The main characters were: Rick ( Rik Mayall ): The hypocritical, Cliff Richard-loving lefty activist who was convinced that he was a Marxist rebel, a poetic genius, the voice of an entire generation and the most well-liked and attractive member of the household; he was spectacularly wrong on all counts ; Vyvyan (Adrian Edmondson): The psychotic but strangely child-like punk who couldn't go an entire episode without destroying something — or, usually, several somethings; Neil (Nigel Planer): The whining, put-upon and suicidal hippie who acted as the dogsbody for the entire house and is convinced (accurately) that no one likes him and everyone is out to get him; Mike (Christopher Ryan): The Charmer of the flat; a smooth, flash and mysterious con-artist who tried it on with every girl he came across, still waiting for it to actually work; The Balowski Family (Alexei Sayle): An entire family all played (on separate occasions) by one man; various Balowskis of varying degrees of sanity appeared, but the most common was the boys' Russian-emigre landlord Jerzei.

The running gag of Sayle playing a Balowski was dropped in the second season as it became harder and harder to write one into an episode. If a one-off character had a large enough number of lines, it was given to Sayle regardless of surname (although this was occasionally lampshaded, as Jerzei appeared twice that season and one of the boys would offhandedly remark "You look a bit like my landlord" to a Sayle character). Worth a mention as a show which never relied on cliché to any extent; any tropes that popped up were usually subverted and double-subverted within minutes, if not seconds. The entire premise of the series, such as it was, was a particularly odd subversion of the Dysfunctional Family trope. Its spiritual descendant , Bottom — basically Mayall and Edmondson playing even more unpleasant Expies of their Young Ones characters — premiered in 1991. , a cover of which is the show's theme). This show provides examples of: Abbey Road Crossing : During the "House Of Fun" sequence in the episode "Boring". Adorkable : Neil can be quite endearing when he isn't moping.

Almost Dead Guy : Lampshaded — the two men who are the recipient of the message aren't terribly concerned with it. All Just a Dream : The end of the episode "Interesting", subverted when it's revealed that the All Just a Dream scene was the dream. The opening scene of "Time" was Neil's dream. For him, it was a pretty good dream , so when he wakes up he just says "oh no" in a miserable tone. Aluminum Christmas Trees : Vivian is, indeed, a man's name, though it's generally one you'd find among Victorian upper crust toffs, which is to say the exact opposite of Vyvyan. Amusing Injuries : All the time. It has the cartoonish violence of the Looney Tunes and Tom and Jerry cartoons. The most notorious/memorable one was when Vyvyan got decapitated by sticking his head out of a train window. His body spent a few minutes trying to find his head. His body then kicks his head down the tracks for a bit, just for good measure. Animated Actors : In "Nasty" a cutaway shows the four main actors insulting Alexei Sayle behind his back.

Author Tract : Vyvyan's tirade against The Good Life (see Berserk Button ) mirrors series writer Ben Elton's own affected disdain for the programme and all others like it. Awesome McCool Name : Mike is in the habit of referring to himself as "Mike the Cool Person". It might actually be his name - Mike Thecoolperson. Aww, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other : Oddly enough, this happens between Vyvyan and SPG - despite the violence owner and pet display towards each other, Vyvyan is still devastated when SPG falls asleep on the radiator and dies in "Summer Holiday." Happens very briefly in "Oil" between Vyvyan and Rick. They're quietly watching TV together, then Rick gets up to go to bed and they wish each other "nighty night" without any of their usual malice and sarcasm. There's a very brief moment in "Bambi" when Neil starts crying when remembering the infamous scene where Bambi's mother died, and Rick seems rather concerned for a moment.

Ax-Crazy : Vyvyan in "Oil" and Jerzei in "Flood", even contains the line "Heeeeeere's Jerzei!"note which was a Shout-Out to The Shining , where the line was itself a Shout-Out to The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson . Vyvyan: It's a potion I've invented where, when the patient drinks it, he turns into a axe-wielding homicidal maniac. It's basically a cure... for not being an axe-wielding homicidal maniac. The potential market's enormous! (It turns into a completely lampshaded Chekhov's Gun .) Bad Liar : Rick. He once tries to convince an axe-wielding landlord not to enter a room by shouting, "There's no one in here, Mr. Balowski! We're all holograms!" Batter Up : Vyvyan makes use of a cricket bat in "Oil" as Colonel Vyvyan , "El Presidente" Mike's chief enforcer to subdue Rick and Neil. The bat returns in "Summer Holiday" when Vyv tries to alleviate his boredom by using it on Rick.

A narrator shown on the lads' telly took a cricket bat with a brick nailed to it to various sticky food items, as part of a cautious-driving PSA. Behind the Black : Vyvyan gives this as a justification for pointing everything out in one episode. Vyvyan: Look, here comes the postman. Mike: Vyvyan, why do you keep telling us what's just about to happen next? Vyvyan: Because it's a studio set, Michael, and they can't afford any long shots. Berserk Button : The Good Life causes Vyvyan to erupt in rage over its extreme niceness. This in turn leads Rick to angrily and unexpectedly defend Felicity Kendal's honour. Vyvyan: No! No! No! NO! We are NOT watching the bloody Good Life! Bloody, bloody, BLOODY! I hate it! It's so bloody nice! Felicity "Treacle" Kendal, and Richard "Sugar-Flavored-Snot" Briers! What do they do now? Chocolate bloody Button ads, that's what! They're nothing but a couple of reactionary stereotypes, confirming the myth that everyone in Britain is a lovable, middle-class eccentric— AND I!

HATE! THEM! Mike: That was a highly articulate outburst, Vyvyan. I only hope they're not watching. Picking on Neil's flares isn't the best idea either , at least if Vyvyan's there to egg him on. BFG : Vyvyan finds a howitzer, which he uses to get Rik to admit to being a virgin. Blackmail : One of Mike's many ongoing, off-camera scams. Rick: Oh, by the way, Mike: your tutor said to tell you that if you don't turn up again next year, then he and the dean may have to seriously reconsider your grant. Mike: Well, you can tell my tutor I still have the photographs of him and the dean. Bookends : The show as a whole starts with (P)Rick's obsession with Cliff Richard , and ends with him talking about Cliff Richard. Brick Joke : Frequently. Most are called back within ten minutes, but some go almost the entire episode. Notably, the bogie-related trivia questions Vyv answers early in the University Challenge episode all come up in the final round of the game show because Rick tampered with Bambi's question cards.

Done literally once, as Vyvyan tries to eat the house to prevent the council knocking it down because it's such a craphole. He leans out the window and bites a brick which disintegrates loudly. Vyvyan: Some of these bricks EXPLODE! That's good, innit?! British Brevity : A grand total of 12 episodes were made, spanning two seasons. Neil and Rick: Mike: You saw the dummy run with the sack of potatoes? Neil: That wasn't a sack of potatoes, Mike, it was a packet of Smashnote A well-known (at the time) brand of instant mashed potato! Mike: Well everyone knows they're better than real potatoes! Also: Rick: Oh, Vyvyan, what repartee! Sticks and stones may break my bones! Vyvyan: That is the first sensible thing you have said all day. (picks up a loose floorboard and smashes Rick in the head with it) Casanova Wannabe : Mike believes he is irresistible to women. However, in "Oil", we see that he merely creates this illusion by leaving women's underwear strewn around his room and playing a recording of a woman moaning "Oh, Mike!" repeatedly.

In "Sick", he tries flirting with the girl at the chemist's by ordering £180 worth of Durex condoms, and a few seconds later we see her literally throw him out. Rick also believes all the ladies love him. Of course, he is very wrong. In Nasty, it is confirmed that all four housemates are virgins. Due to a shared belief that vampires only attack virgins, Mike proposes the only solution: that all four of them lose their virginity to each other, right now. The Cast Showoff : Alexei Sayle was given an opportunity in each episode to show off his stand-up comedy skills (hence each episode credited him with 'Additional Material'). Rick and Vyvyan love to call each other, and everyone else (especially Neil), "BASTARDS!" Vyv is also partial to "Brilliant!" Neil's favorite adjective is "heavy", and he often complains that he's "having a really bad time". "Mike, the cool person..." Character Celebrity Endorsement : For whatever reason, the DuPont carpet company chose Vyvyan as the spokesman for its mid-'80s carpet-selling competition in the UK.

This is the audio promo that was distributed to DuPont salespeople. Lampshaded by the overacting delivery man in "Nasty": "Little squirt, he does one advert and he thinks he's Dustin Hoffman !"note One of Hoffman's first acting gigs having been a car commercial. Comically Missing the Point : Vyvyan picks up a half-empty coffee mug and looks inside. Whatever was once in there has gone bright green and has white bits floating in it . He takes a swig, spits out and snarls "No sugar!" In an episode where the boys are having trouble with a vampire, Mike goes by the vampire lore that vampires only attack virgins. Rick points out that if anyone gets bitten - they've been outed as a virgin. Cranium Chase : Two headless ghosts wandered through the lads' apartment having an argument. Both drop their heads, and their bodies grope around for anything spherical (a goldfish bowl, a grapefruit) that they can tuck under their arms. Later, the two reappear arguing about which head the body with the nicer bottom belongs to. Vyvyan gets his head knocked off by looking out of a train window.

His body is directed by his head to pick it up, but the body keeps kicking it along instead. Crossdresser : Although he is never seen in women's clothes, Rick is obviously a crossdresser. At one point, Neil comes downstairs in a Gingham dress and says that because he couldn't get into his own room to get dressed, he went into Rick's room and found a dress. When Rick denies it , Vyvyan points out the nametag says 'Rick'. Also, Rick has several very feminine habits, such as braiding his hair and crossing his legs and reading Cosmopolitan. In addition, when Vyvyan asks Rick if he intends to "burn his bra" when he gets a bit political, he replies "Well, someone's got to." Extreme Omnivore : Vyvyan has eaten teabags, exploding bricks and Neil's lentil and seaweed casserole , and at one point in the series eats the television to hide it from the television license inspector. Television License Inspector: Aha! The old trick, eh? Eat the telly before I have a chance to nick you! Vyvyan: (electric cord hanging from mouth) It's a toaster!

Mike has at least one brief moment too. During the first episode, while trying to seduce the woman from the council, he eats the cube he was chalking a pool cue with. Either that, or he was using a marshmallow because he didn't have a real chalk-cube. Fauxreigner : Quickly subverted by Jerzei Balowski in "Demolition" - despite assuming the persona of a foreigner in denial about being foreign. (Furthermore, most of the other Balowskis have English accents.) Jerzei Balowski: (in Alexei Sayle's natural Scouse accent) I'm not really foreign, you know. I just do it to appear more sophisticated! I mean, nobody'd buy Evian water if it was called "Blackburn Water", would they? Nobody'd wear Kicker boots if they were made in Scunthorpe! ABBA? ABBA, Swedish? I knew them when they were a Lancashire clog-dancing trio! Arthur, Betty, Boris and Angela! Solzhenitsyn, Solzhenitsyn — a former pipe-fitter welder from Harrogate! Fiery Redhead : Redheads don't get much more fiery than Vyvyan.

Flipping the Bird : Vyvyan flips Vs to Rick, Neil, the Balowskis and/or his Mum every other scene. He even tries to hitchhike by flipping Vs to passing cars. Four-Temperament Ensemble : Rick is sanguine, Vyvyan is choleric, Neil is melancholic, and Mike is phlegmatic. Funny Background Event : In a Call Back to Neil's comment about the penny arcade owner bringing in his pennies, when the lads start the robbery and the bank's customers lie down, you can see a wheelbarrow full of small change. Freeze-Frame Bonus : The random images cut into every episode of the second series, including a dripping tap, a jumping frog, the end screen from Carry On Cowboy , a clay pot on a potter's wheel, and various others. Gargle Blaster : Vyvyan mixes his drinks with paintstripper and bleach, resulting in a very strong hangover (which is cured by him detonating a stick of dynamite on his head). Alexei Sayle as various members of the Balowski family. Rick and Vyv, especially when they're arguing with each other.

Turned up to eleven by the drunk luvvie postman. Loophole Abuse : A strange... version with regards to the treatment of their newly acquired VCR: Mike: Maybe you shouldn't have poured all of that washing-up liquid into it. Vyvyan: It says here "ensure machine is clean and free from dust"! Mike: Yeah, but it don't say "ensure machine is full of washing-up liquid"! Vyvyan: Yeah, but it doesn't say "ensure machine isn't full of washing-up liquid"! Mike: Well, it wouldn't would it? I mean, it doesn't say "ensure you don't chop up your video machine with an axe, put all the bits in a plastic bag and bung them down the lavatory!" Vyvyan: Doesn't it? Well maybe that's where we're going wrong! Made of Iron : Vyvyan has survived having his head chopped off. Also having a pickax driven through his skull, crashing his car, and a brick exploding in his mouth.

The only times he actually seems to have felt pain were when he cut off his own finger trying to do a magic trick and when his Mum did something painful off-camera that left him holding his crotch and apologizing for his sexist remark. Mike recovers very quickly from having nailed his own legs to the table, and may have felt no pain initially, considering he did it twice. Meaningful Name : Parodied with "Mike Thecoolperson". While Mike speaks of himself as "Mike the cool person", there is no indication in the series that that is his last name. There is however is a book of the series, Bachelor Boys in which they feature official paperwork about the characters. In the book at least Mike's surname is Thecoolperson. The book's canonicity has been debated. Played absolutely straight with Vyvyan (translates to "lively") Basterd , as well as with Rick Pratt (a synonym for "arse" and a slang term for a person of minimal intelligence and inflated ego ). The TV detector man introduces himself as Bastard, "but you can call me Right Bleeding". No indication whether he's related to Vyvyan or not. Rick: How did this happen?!

Mike: How old are you, Rick? Even funnier: Vyvyan: Yeah, that's what she said! You just can't trust women, can you? In the end it turns out that Vyvyan was never actually pregnant — he was just suffering from a particularly bad case of trapped wind, which comes out in the form of the world's longest, loudest fart. Said fart is then ignited by Mike's cigar, and the resulting blast all but destroys the house. There's also Vyvyan's friends from the party who are wondering how one of them isn't pregnant after kissing a girl. And like Vyv himself, these friends are med students. The second series featured the lads watching a video with an advert featuring Dawn French and Helen Atkinson Wood: Helen: That strange washed out feeling that you just can't explain. Dawn: She's talking about period pain. Oh Crap! : All the lads (except Vyvyan, who is positively smiling) as they watch a plane fall out of the sky directly over their house.

Ominous Latin Chanting : The intro to "Flood"; "dominus ad nauseum" (repeated to the point of inducing nausea) is pure Lampshade Hanging . It might also be a Shout-Out to the flagellant monks in Monty Python and the Holy Grail . One-Note Cook : Neil does the cooking for the household; unfortunately, he only seems to be able to cook lentils. Our Vampires Are Different : The South African vampire driving instructor. Who turned out not to be a vampire at all, but to actually be Harry the Bastard in disguise, as a ploy to distract the boys long enough so they can't return their rented VCR in time, forcing them to pay him. Overly Long Name : Alexei Yuri Gagarin Siege of Stalingrad Glorious Five-Year Plan Sputnik Pravda Moscow Dynamo Back Four Balowski. Alexei: Me Dad was a bit of a Communist, know what I mean?note Which is of course more or less Truth in Television for why a self-proclaimed fat bastard from Liverpool has a name like Alexei in the first place.

Parachute in a Tree : After moving into a new house, Mike discovers Buddy Holly , still alive and guitar in hand, hanging from a parachute in one of the rooms. He has apparently been there since 1959 (23 years at that point). Mike tries to capitalise on the songs Buddy has thought up since then only for the parachute to give way and Holly fall screaming through the floor. Mike (looks at audience) : Well, I'd probably get a few quid on the guitar! Perpetual Poverty : The lads never have much money, being Starving Students dependant on their grants. They're pretty much forced to live on lentils and cornflakes. By the finale, it turns out they are seriously behind on their rent and are evicted as a result. Playing Gertrude : Vyvyan has a rather youthful-looking mother, whom we also meet in "Boring". The actress, Pauline Melville, is only nine years older than Adrian Edmondson. The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything : The protagonists are university students. Good luck trying to catch them going to classes — although Rick studies occasionally, and all the cast sit their exams with Neil coming top.

Lampshaded in "Boring", when Neil's suggestion that the guys should try alleviating their boredom by actually going in to university is greeted with aghast shock from the others. Mike: Now, Neil. Now, listen. Things may be bad, but there's no need to panic. One on occasion, Rick actually does plan to attend a lecture, only to be informed that it's Saturday. On other occasions, it is implied that Mike doesn't study because he's either bribing or blackmailing his tutor (or possibly both). Mike: I think I'll ask for one of those Ph.D.s next year. An actual pirate appears in a side-skit, who failed so badly at piracy that he's resorted to operating a radio program from his ship. Prison Rape : A television liscensing inspector arrives at the house, Rick panics and immediately starts shrieking "I can't go to pwison! I'm too pwetty! I'll get waped!" Psycho Serum : Vyvyan's potion designed to turn a person into an axe wielding maniac. Vyvyan: It's basically a cure... for not being an axe wielding homocidal maniac! Squee!

: Rick in the music video for "Living Doll". "It's Cliff Richard!!" Standardized Leader : This might be the reason why Mike isn't as popular (or funny) as the other three - he is the "leader" of the house, and is relatively grounded and subtle in his mannerisms. He helps to balance out the craziness of everyone else, and has his own gems occasionally though, as well as driving key "plot" moments and setting up some jokes for the rest of the cast. One could say he gives a little more direction when it's needed, and comes up with all the plans. Starving Student : Taken to ridiculous extremes. The lads can't actually afford the rent on their shithole of a house, serve one corn flake to each guest at their party and their staple diet appears to be cornflakes and lentils (which almost always end up spilled on the ground). " Cash " shows them burning everything in the house so as not to freeze to death. Strawman Political : Rick — although the character is more making fun of university students who become political without really studying up on the subject. Or alternately , a parody of how conservatives see liberals. Neil: Vyvyan.

Can you, like, actually kill yourself with laxative pills? Vyvyan: I don't know, Neil. But I'm sure going to stay and find out! Doubles as Toilet Humour given the effects of laxatives and the outrageous churning noises that subsequently come from Rick's guts. Neil's several botched attempts: using too long a rope for his gallows, alleging he's tried to crucify himself many times but can never get the last nail hammered in, etc. Subliminal Seduction : Parodied: at the time there was a great fuss over — and paranoia of — subliminal messages in shows or adverts. Thus, throughout the second season, the show inserted at least one "subliminal message" in each episode: a non-sequitur image flashed up on the screen for five frames. Sunglasses at Night : Mike, frequently, though he is seen without them. Surreal Humour : Yes. This is the same group of four students whose house seems to keep odd things like talking ants having discussions about discos, where flies have conversations about being a fly on the wall, and where vegetables have discussions about their lives.

Swapped Roles : "Bambi" features a brief, surreal segment where the boys rush down the stairs in the morning to reveal the characters/actors have inexplicably swapped roles; Nigel Planer (Neil) is now Rick, Rik Mayall (Rick, duh) is Vyvyan, Christopher Ryan (Mike) is Neil and Adrian Edmondson (Vyvyan) is Mike. Aside from a lampshade from 'Neil' about how he "doesn't feel himself today", this is never commented on, and they're back to their usual roles the very next scene. Combined with a bit of Stylistic Suck , as the actors aren't much good at playing each others' characters (exept maybe Edmondson as Mike and Mayall as Vyvyan). Edmondson's quip about laundry being Self-Deprecation rather than Mike's usual boastfulness suggests this is deliberate, not just poor acting. It is also a Casting Gag , as the actors were all going to play each other's roles at one point. Several aimed at Margaret Thatcher . The police get several shots taken at them as well.. "God, I'm bored. I might as well be listening to Genesis .

"He'll bite us and we'll be vampires. Dead and yet somehow alive. Like Leonard Cohen ". The Show Within a Show Nozin' Around was a dig at youth-orientated shows of the 1980s. "Did you see that? Did you? 'The voice of youth!' They're still wearing flared trousers. Why don't you try some poetry, ya hippies!" Tantrum Throwing : Rick, usually because he wants attention. Unknown Character : The Young Ones had a fifth housemate . The Unintelligible : All four lads have instances of this. If you're not British, watching with subtitles isn't a bad idea. Unplanned Crossdressing : Neil ends up in a dress after he fell out the bathroom window and his room was nailed shut. He raided Rick's room and found only a dress with Rick's nametag on it. The Unreveal : Vyvyan's sex (Vyvyan was never pregnant). Unspoken Plan : Subverted. Mike whispers his plan for the bank robbery and asks "Got it?" Neil replies with the whispering noise Mike just made. Rick is an arrogant, radical poseur. Vyvyan is an ultraviolent, psychopathic punk .

Mike is a shady con artist. Your Milage May Vary with Neil, depending on whether you read him as guilt-trippingly manipulative and unpleasantly passive-aggressive or seriously depressed. Then again, it's easy to feel sorry for him considering how he's The Chew Toy . Unwinnable by Mistake : The tie-in video game (promo here, complete with hilarious voiceover fail) included some bugs the developers missed that made it impossible to finish. Once the game's buyers figured this out and complained, its manufacturer pulled it from the market with only about 10,000 copies sold. Neil becomes one in the episode "Sick" when he manages to trigger a riot in the neighborhood just by sneezing out the window. There's a Running Gag in the series that whenever Neil sneezes, something explodes. Vague Age : Mike can somehow blend in fine with other university students, despite looking like he's been there for ten years at least (Christopher Ryan was 32 when the series premiered). Rick and Vyvyan still suffer from acne, which would logically indicate late teens, and Neil looks slightly older than them. Still, it's all really anyone's guess.

Given that Mike is only registered as a student to blackmail a stipend out of the Dean, he probably has been there for ten years or more. Variety Show : The only reason that musical performances were added in was because the show would qualify for a bigger budget, with the addition that these performances would make the show seem more surreal. In "Flood", a lion tamer appears in place of a band, probably to absolutely satisfy the criteria for a variety show. This turns into a Brick Joke . Madness were the only band to appear twice. This is because BBC 2 was apparently planning to commission a comedy series starring the band, though it wound up never being produced. Violent Glaswegian : SPG. Notably his head-butt assault on Footlight College's teddy bear. Visual Pun : In the pilot, Mike is flipping through the TV Timesnote A British TV listings magazine while a pile of assorted items (including plastic dice, fruit, vegetables, and a dead fish) fall from the magazine onto his lap. Mike: ( looks at the camera and recites the magazine's then-current advertising slogan) I never knew there was so much in it!

In the last episode, they look out the front their stolen bus, shout "AAGH! CLIFF!" and crash through a billboard poster of Cliff Richard ...and over the edge of a cliff. The pirate radio station that's run by actual pirates. Weirdness Censor : Parodied in "Boring", in which the lads see, overhear, and/or smell hints that one remarkable thing after another is happening all around them, but are too wrapped up in their boredom and bickering to notice. Weirdness Magnet : The four lads. All manner of strange things happen to them over the course of their student lives, which they don't really take much notice of. In arguably one of the most defining moments of the series, Rick's reaction to a gigantic sandwich falling through the roof consists of the winged words: "... Well that's just typical..." Whoopi Epiphany Speech : Parodied/subverted in "Boring" when, during a fight, Rick suddenly decides to try appealing to everybody's better nature: Rick: Guys! Guys! Look at us! Squabbling! Bickewing , like childwen ! What's happened to us? We never used to be like this!

Vyvyan: Yes, we did. Mike: Yeah, he's right, Rick. We've always been like this. The Young Ones (TV Series 1982–1984) - IMDb IMDb There was an error trying to load your rating for this title. Some parts of this page won't work property. Please reload or try later. X Beta I'm Watching This! Keep track of everything you watch; tell your friends. Error The crazy and sometimes surreal comedic adventures of four very different students in Thatcher's Britain. Stars: After realizing they haven't done the wash in almost three years, the boys take a trip to the launderette and then Neil remembers that they have been chosen to be on "University Challenge". 9.2 It's the end of the term at College, and Vyvan, Rick, Mike and Neil are having a lazy summer holiday. But they end up getting evicted by Mr. Bolowski and decide to rob a bank, before making a getaway... 8.8 Mike and Vyvan try to get their video player working as they are plan to watch video nasties, Neil has a bath and Vyvan, Rick, Mike and Neil are terrorized by a vampire.

8.7 Famous Directors: From Sundance to Prominence From Christopher Nolan to Quentin Tarantino and every Coen brother in between, many of today's most popular directors got their start at the Sundance Film Festival . Here's a list of some of the biggest names to go from Sundance to Hollywood prominence. a list of 22 titles created 11 Jan 2011 a list of 33 titles created 28 Jun 2013 a list of 49 titles created 08 Jul 2014 a list of 27 titles created 01 Nov 2015 a list of 22 titles created 07 Jan 2016 Title: The Young Ones (1982–1984) 8.2/10 Want to share IMDb's rating on your own site? Use the HTML below. You must be a registered user to use the IMDb rating plugin. 1 win & 1 nomination. See more awards » Photos Edward and Richard are best buddies living off the government doing nothing more than having a good time and breaking stuff.

Stars: Adrian Edmondson, Rik Mayall, Steven O'Donnell Filthy Rich & Catflap (TV Series 1987) Comedy A satire about three losers: a failed actor, his sleazy agent and a permanently drunk bodyguard. Stars: Adrian Edmondson, Rik Mayall, Nigel Planer Queen Elizabeth is attending a parade in Hammersmith and Richie and Eddie plans on inviting the Queen to join them for supper. But their plan goes wrong. Director: Dominic Brigstocke Richie buys an inflatable doll named Monica as his lover, and he tries to conceal it from Eddie. But it all goes terribly wrong when Richie accidentally super glues Monica to his groin, mistaking Eddie's super glue for Handcream. Director: Marcus Mortimer Richie and Eddie find themselves stranded on a tropical island, only to find the island is a atomic-test site, where the French tests atomic weaponry. Director: Ed Bye In a parody of 1980s Conservatism, Rik Mayall is Alan B'Stard MP, the most machiavellian Tory of them all.

Stars: Rik Mayall, Michael Troughton, Marsha Fitzalan This comedy series is all about two mates, Gary and Tony who share a two bedroom home. They are grown men who act like a couple of drunk two year olds, who spend their time either drinking ... See full summary » Stars: Martin Clunes, Caroline Quentin, Leslie Ash Richie and Eddie escapes from the island and try to get to the bar to have a drink, only to find themselves trapped in a underground chamber and Richie thinks they've been abducted by aliens. Director: Dewi Humphreys Richie and Eddie are in charge of the worst hotel in the UK, Guest House Paradiso, neighbouring a nuclear power plant. The illegal immigrant chef has fled and all the guests have gone. But ... See full summary » Director: Adrian Edmondson Eddie has locked himself away in the toilet and Richie finds he's been inventing gadgets and only to find himself joining Eddie on a adventure through time and space on-board Eddie's time machine "The Turdis" which is a toilet cubicle.

Director: Dewi Humphreys The two Dangerous brothers Sir Richard and Sir Adrian host a series of mad and violent sketches Director: Paul Jackson In the Middle Ages, Prince Edmund the Black Adder constantly schemes and endeavors to seize the crown from his father and brother. Stars: Rowan Atkinson, Brian Blessed, Elspet Gray Edit Storyline Four mis-matched university students share a house in North London: Neil, the hippy; Mike, the cool person; Rick, a would-be anarchist studying sociology; and Vyvyan, the punk medical student who is prone to extreme violence. Together with their bastard Russian landlord, the world of these "bachelor boys" is surreal and violent, but ultimately hilarious. Written by Alexander Lum <aj_lum@postoffice.utas.edu.au> 9 November 1982 (UK) See more » Also Known As: Did You Know? Trivia A pilot for an American version of the sitcom which was called Oh, No! Not THEM! (1990) featured Nigel Planer returning in the role of Neil and Jackie Earle Haley and the show had a Claymation opening credit sequence. But the show was not picked up.

See more » Connections (Australia) – See all my reviews This is my favorite show of all time... no questions asked. My mother introduced it to me last year when she bought a video called "The Very Best of The Young Ones" which featured 5 episodes. They were Bomb, Boring, Bambi, Interesting and Summer Holiday. I was so hooked on it! I gave the video away to someone else... not before getting the complete series of season 1 and season 2 on DVD. It's absolute kick@ss and stuff and I can't help but watch it all of the time. I blooming love it. I love Vyvyan the most out of them all, followed by Rik than Neil and of course Mike TheCoolPerson. But they're all hilarious. My favorite episode was probably Bambi... but they're all good. Alexei Sayle would have to have been recognized as the funniest man in the whole entire world during this series. The musical guests are fantastic as well with Madness, Motorhead, and so much more. Hilariously written, wonderfully over the top acting, very original the whole way. Great... great... great... great show!

This is proof that the British do comedy 100,000,000,000,000,000 times or better than the United States of America. Sorry Yankees... bow down before the Oxford graduates, Cambridge graduates and gifted high school dropouts! 22 of 23 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes Vyvyan Basterd | The young ones Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia The young ones Wiki Share Ad blocker interference detected! Wikia is a free-to-use site that makes money from advertising. We have a modified experience for viewers using ad blockers Wikia is not accessible if you’ve made further modifications. Remove the custom ad blocker rule(s) and the page will load as expected. Vyvyan Basterd is a central character of The Young Ones and is portrayed by Adrian Edmondson Personality and Characteristics Edit Vyvyan is a psychopathic punk medical student. He has orange-dyed & spiked hair and four metal stars seemingly embedded into his forehead. In the episode "Interesting", he drinks a pint of blue liquid which makes his hair fall out and the number 666 is visible on the side of his head.

He rarely interacts with Mike, largely ignoring him or seemingly not caring about him one way or the other though he does sometimes seek out Rick to silently confer with each other when Mike says something that baffles them. He is extremely violent and regularly attacks Neil and Rick with pieces of wood, cricket bats and other large objects. Ironically, this antagonistic relationship between Rick and Vyvyan makes them virtually inseparable, as the two spend by far more time together than with the other housemates, Add to that the fact that the two claim to hate each other but are never more than five feet apart in any scene from the series. They often sit next to each other on the sofa in the drawing room or at the kitchen table. Unlike Neil and Rick, Vyvyan appears to come from a working-class background (something Rick incorrectly believes himself to have). Vyvyan owns a talking Glaswegian hamster called Special Patrol Group ("SPG" for short), which he later renames "Cliff Richard" (after Rick says he thinks SPG is a stupid name for a hamster in the episode "Demolition" ) of whom he is very fond, although SPG is also frequently subjected to Vyvyan's extreme violence.

This is usually provoked, such as when SPG bit Vyvyan and made him destroy his cardboard submarine in "Flood" or plugging in the TV after Vyvyan swallowed it in "Bomb". Details of life Edit Vyvyan's mother is a barmaid and former shoplifter, who before "Boring" had not seen Vyvyan in ten years and has no idea who his father is. Vyvyan occasionally displays feats of superhuman strength and resilience, such as surviving a pickaxe through his head, moving entire walls with his bare hands, lifting Neil above his head in a fight with Rick, biting through a brick (making the comment that some of the house's bricks explode) and even being decapitated and re-attaching his own head. He eats just about anything: televisions, dead rats, caviar and cornflakes with ketchup. In "Bambi", Vyvyan displays impressive mathematical talent (working out instantly that he has worn his three pairs of underpants 269 times each since their last wash), yet he cannot tell the time from a watch. In the episode "Flood", he develops a potion to transform a person into an axe-wielding homicidal maniac.

He claims "it's basically a cure... for not being an axe-wielding homicidal maniac. The potential market's enormous!". He has more friends than the others but "...apparently he doesn't like any of them." He seems to lose interest in other people fairly quickly in favour of hanging out with and/or tormenting Rick, who captivates Vyv's attention; for example, in "Interesting", he starts out doing push-ups to impress the girls but once Rick sits down with them, he prefers to sit by Rick and chat. In "Time", he almost instantly ignores the pretty girl when he learns of Rick still being a virgin. He frequently causes havoc or damage such as wiring the doorbell to a bomb to "pep it up a bit" and adding a small car engine to the vacuum cleaner as previously it "looked a bit on the tentative side"— which then proceeds to suck up the carpet, the floorboards and a friend of Neil's. The vacuum also prompted one of the few clashes between Vyvyan and Mike; when Mike admonished Vyv not to use it anymore, Vyv replied by calling him a "poof".

Vyvyan is the only member of the group to own a car – a yellow Ford Anglia with red flames painted along the sides that he is extremely possessive of, as seen in "Summer Holiday" when he cries as the result of crashing it and again in " Cash " when he reminds Neil that "No, no Neil cause if you so much as touch my car I'm gonna kill you! Remember?" Strangely this does not seem to apply to Rick, as he readily agreed to let Rick sit in the front of it with him to solve the problem of not having any seats earlier in the scene. By far his most interesting relationship is with Rick, as the two are completely in sync and although they are one of the most aggressive couples in the flat, it can be changed on and off like a switch, going from fighting to sitting on the couch discussing a comic at the drop of a hat. The Young Ones - Cash (Series 2 Episode 2) Part 2 - YouTube The Young Ones - Cash (Series 2 Episode 2) Part 2 Want to watch this again later? Sign in to add this video to a playlist. Need to report the video? Sign in to report inappropriate content.

The interactive transcript could not be loaded. Loading... Rating is available when the video has been rented. This feature is not available right now. Please try again later. Uploaded on Jun 17, 2009 The quartet are so poor that they are burning their clothes and belongings just to keep warm. Neil prepares meals of snow passed off as risotto, and Vyvyan goes around the neighbourhood to find winter fuel although the episode is set in September. Eventually they decide that Rick needs to get a job to bring money into the house, but when the only vacancy advertised in the local paper is for the Army, Rick and Mike both rule themselves out on medical grounds (perforated eardrum and flat feet, respectively), while Vyvyan declares that he is pregnant, leaving Neil the only one to take the job. After a poor haircut and a quick loan of Mike's suit, Neil goes to join up, but having been told not to mention it, is rejected for being a pacifist. After spotting a recruitment poster for the police, the other three throw Neil into the police station next door, where he meets Alexei Sayle's character, a Mussolini-lookalike.

While the others get lucky when a lorry full of food and expensive furnishings crashes through the front window, Neil takes to his new job - arresting a bunch of his drugged-up hippie friends. Arriving home, Neil tries to arrest his flatmates, assuming they have stolen the luxury items. His harsh use of the baton forces Vyvyan into labour. Mike leaves the room, being afraid of the sight of childbirth. Instead, Vyvyan actually ends up passing wind loudly. Having been handcuffed together with Vyvyan, Rick and Neil frantically try to escape the smell but Neil is unable to find the key. Unaware, Mike comes back in, and tries to light a celebratory cigar. The flame reacts with the gas, causing the house to explode. Category BBC - Comedy - The Young Ones The Young Ones The Young Ones Whilst Not The Nine O'Clock News gave an outing to virtually every writer involved in the rise of alternative comedy, The Young Ones did the same for many alternative performers. The Young Ones launched the career of Ben Elton as a major writer, and was the first situation comedy of the Alternative generation.

The series follows the lives of four dislikable social inadequates, each ostensibly studying at Scumbag College, but actually just doing whatever the hell they liked and having extremely strange, surreal adventures in the process. The series starring Rik Mayall, Adrian Edmondson, Nigel Planer and Christoper Ryan ran from 1982 until 1985 for 26 episodes - not a bad airing for one of the most highly-charged, material-hungry British sitcoms ever made. The Young Ones came into being partially as a result of the standup routines that then-Comedy Store regulars Mayall, Edmondson, Planer, Peter Richardson and others were creating, and which had already become the series which was to be known as The Comic Strip Presents. Draft scripts from Mayall and Lise Mayer were full of the raw, punkish energy that the BBC were looking for, but it was Ben Elton who was responsible for making it all work. Along with Blackadder, The Young Ones is Ben Elton's greatest sitcom work. The setup of The Young Ones seems childish, and the stories themselves extremely fragmented.

In many episodes the actions of the main characters seem to do nothing except hate and victimize each other - with everyone bullying hippy Neil, ignoring the claims by self-styled anarchist Rick that he's the 'most popular member of the house', punk psycho Vyvyan hitting everything and saving his love only for his hamster. Only cool dude Mike seemed above the fray in adventures that included Vyvyan discovering oil in the basement, an atomic bomb falling on the house, and everyone going through a time warp. Underneath the post-punk, rock culture insanity however, classic sitcom rules worked; Neil was a put-upon housewife in all but name, Rick and Vyvyan wayward teenagers with a penchant for (on one hand) fatuous semi-Marxism and (on the other) hitting people, with Mike the father figure whose plans for making money resemble an even-less-competent Del Trotter. They faced enemies such as the constantly tricksy Balowski 'family' - played in their entirety by Alexei Sayle - and the foul Footlights College team in an episode in which our heroes end up on University Challenge. It was the style and the characterization of The Young Ones, rather than its stories, which was entirely new.

Never before had violence of such degree, squalor, physical foulness, blood, sex and death, all been used as such a regular part of a flagship comedy programme. It was, like Not The Nine O'Clock News, a signal to the old guard that comedy was going in a different direction, and it wasn't going to be comfy. Even the musical interludes - which had featured in other shows such as The Goons - were harder, with bands like Madness, and Motorhead performing. The Young Ones eventually exited in typically surreal fashion, stealing a bus and driving it over a cliff after a haphazard armed robbery and allowing its stars to move on to other things. It proved in itself a difficult act to follow for all its major stars. Filthy, Rich and Catflap and Bottom were never quite as good. Whilst most of the other writer-creators of the time used the doors it opened, they did so in very different ways. The Young Ones was too random, too punkish, to make it a format that could be rubberstamped elsewhere.

Question: In The Young Ones who shared the house with Rick, Vivian and Neil?
Answer: Mike