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), Neil ( Nigel Planer ), Rick ( Rik Mayall ), Mike ( Christopher Ryan ) & Vyvyan ( Adrian Edmondson )]] ''The Young Ones'' was a ); shrill friendless anarchist Rick ( Rik Mayall ); longsuffering hippie Neil ( Nigel Planer ); and the undersized Mike ( Christopher Ryan ). It was written by Ben Elton , Rik Mayall , and Lise Mayer , with additional contributions by Alexei Sayle (mostly his own performances). The show was directed by Geoff Posner and produced by Paul Jackson for the BBC between 1982 and 1984 . The show developed a Cult Following throughout the English -speaking world, including the US after re-runs were aired on MTV in the mid 80's. SYNOPSIS The show revolved around the shared house where the students lived during their study at Scumbag College. It can be classified as a , with each episode also including scenes with puppets playing the part of Talking Animal s or objects. Episodes in the second series originally included " Flash Frames " lasting only a fraction of a second, but these were edited out of most Rerun s. These were included as a mockery of the paranoia that was rife at the time of subliminal messages in television, music and music played backwards. The series originally ran to 35 minutes per episode, and many episodes were cut for timing when repeated on the BBC or Satellite Channels . ]] TV They tend to watch TV a lot but when they hadn't paid their TV license, they were forced to eat the telly. Their favourite shows are ''Bastard Squad'', ''Oh Crikey'' and ''Nozin' Aroun' '' but sometimes they just sit and watch the white dot. In one episode they are loaned a VCR by a shady associate of Mike's (Harry the Bastard) but they struggle to make it work. Vyvyan suspects the reason for this is that he has not chopped it up and flushed it down the toilet, but his theory is never tested. Music The theme tune to the series was the cast singing the Cliff Richard song "Young Ones"; there are also many references to Richard, who is Rick's idol, an Ironic contrast to Richard's "old granny" image. Richard's song Move It is featured at the beginning of the "Cash" episode, playing on Rick's record player. In 1986 , two years after the show went off the air, the four housemates sang with Richard for Comic Relief (despite being "dead"). The song, a reworking of his 1950s smash "Living Doll" was a number one hit in the UK. Two years earlier, in the aftermath of the second series, Nigel Planer (who portrayed Neil on the show) got to No.2 in the UK charts with a version of " Hole In My Shoe ". Most shows had a musical guest for no apparent thematic reason, performing in the house or the street. By including the groups, the show qualified as Light Entertainment and therefore got a higher budget than a mere sitcom - useful, considering the damage done to all the sets on a weekly basis. Some of these performances were omitted from DVD release for Copyright reasons, although the DVDs currently available in the UK have all musical performances included. The band Madness appeared in two different episodes; the band was being considered for a " Monkees " style show at the time. Characters Neil Pye Played by Nigel Planer , Neil - a Hippie - is a Clinically Depressed Pacifist , Insomniac and Vegetarian . Studying a Peace Studies degree, Neil winds up doing the housework, shopping and cooking. Neil dislikes Technology , and speaks out for "''Vegetable Rights and Peace''" ('' Bambi '',). Neil tends to drone on, and gets caught out when exposed to expressions and figures of speech, but is also the most knowledgeable of the four. Neil discovers at one point, much to his surprise, that he wears a wig. Occasionally, whenever something scary happens to him, such as seeing lions or being catapulted through the roof to change a lightbulb, he will crap his pants, literally ("Don't worry, that won't have any effect on your weight"). "neil" - usually written entirely in lowercase - is also referred to as Watkins-Weedon-Pye in the ''Young Ones'' book. Rick Played by Rik Mayall , Rick is a self-described Anarchist and "people's poet." studying Sociology and/or domestic sciences. Rick is a hypocritical, tantrum-throwing attention seeker who loves Cliff Richard . Rick is portrayed as intensely unlikeable, and so self-absorbed that he believes that he is the "''most popular member of the flat,''" in fact the "''spokesperson of a generation''". In reality, Rick exaggerates or outright lies about his endeavours, and is easily the most despised of the four. His claims of Political Activism and Working Class heroism appear to be exposed as a sham in the last episode, when it is suggested he comes from an Upper Class background. Rick tries desperately to express his Wit , talent and humour to no avail, as he lacks all three qualities. He sucks up to Mike, who ignores him and doesn't seem to care about Rick's posessions (in one episode Mike turned Rick's room into a roller disco). He also holds the world record for producing/being "the world's stupidest Bottom Burp " ''(Bambi)'', but it's more likely he produced it, since he tried to kill himself with laxative pills in the same episode (but only ended up emitting a massive fart/crapping his pants). Vyvyan Basterd Played by Adrian Edmondson , "Vyv" was an orange haired Punk , Medical Student , studying to be a doctor. Vyvyan's mother is a barmaid and former shoplifter who before ''Boring'' had not seen Vyvyan in 10 years. Vyvyan displays feats of inhuman strength on occasion (moving entire walls with his bare hands, throwing full-sized TV sets out of the window, lifting Neil above his head in a fight with Rick), and eats just about anything (TVs, cornflakes with tomato sauce, dead rats and pigeons, etc.). Vyvyan hates Rick the most out of his flatmates, and victimises Neil although does not dislike him as much. He has some respect for Mike, however, and is often active as Mike's personal enforcer (see ''Oil'') or sidekick. He owns a yellow Ford Anglia with flames painted along the sides, which in the first episode was decorated with an amputated leg. Despite being a Homicidial maniac, Vyvyan seems quite sociable and creative; he has often mixed up Potion s of his own creation, is a whiz at electrics, to the extent of causing havoc or damage (he created a Vacuum Cleaner that sucks up the carpet and floorboards in ''Interesting'', and attached the doorbell to a Bomb in ''Nasty''). Vyvyan's favourite party game is one he made up called "''Dissection''". Mike Thecoolperson Played by Christopher Ryan , Mike was unintentionally the odd one out of the four. Mike was supposedly a cool, unflappable ladies' man who had wrangled Grant s and a University place without having to study because he had compromising photographs of the Dean. He refers to his major as "the school of life." Mike has a high opinion of his skill with women, although he is eventually forced to admit his Virginity to the others (see ''Nasty''). He seems cool merely by comparison with the other three; outside their house he is as much of a loser as any of them. A Con Artist , he always has some kind of plan to make quick, dirty money, such as renting out Rick's room as a roller-disco in ''Oil'' and his own room to a lion-tamer in ''Flood''. Ryan was selected for the part at the last minute after original actor Peter Richardson fell out with producer Paul Jackson; he was the only one of the cast with no experience as a comedian. Alexei Sayle driver; a Mussolini lookalike; Harry the Bastard, a video store owner and vampire impersonator; Brian Damage, an escaped Convict ; a Medieval Jester (with Helen Lederer as his sidekick); and, extremely briefly, a customer at a not-cheese shop (in a deft homage to Monty Python ). He would routinely interject his own material into the program. SPG There was also a regular puppet character, Vyvyan's Glaswegian pet Hamster , SPG ( Special Patrol Group ). SPG is basically a hamster version of Vyvyan who likes Curries (''Oil'') and is a fan of the '' Jaws '' movies (''Flood''). In ''Demolition'', Vyvyan mentions that he starves SPG often because he does not want to spoil him, and tells the other flatmates not to feed him; in the first episode Vyvyan threatens to change SPG's name to 'Cliff Richard' to annoy Rick (who had been making fun of the name "Special Patrol Group"), and uses Rick's roll-on deodorant on SPG because he seems to be "''a bit whiffy''" - eliciting protest from SPG, who does not think much of smelling like a student's armpit. SPG also uses carrots, though not as food - Vyv claims he prefers to stick them "''down his trousers to impress the girls''". SPG has often ended up as the target of Vyvyan's violence, and has even been Snogged by Vyvyan once. SPG died in ''Summer Holiday'', much to Vyvyan's despair, on the radiator of Vyvyan's yellow Ford Anglia . Finale The four students are rendered homeless during the summer holiday period, and decide to rob a Bank . They make their escape in a red London Double-decker Bus , only for them to crash through a giant billboard advertising Cliff Richard and go over a real seaside cliff, exploding into flames at the bottom. This was atypical of many sitcom endings, as it ended the show's popularity on a high, without a loss of good ideas, storylines, or jokes, and allowed the cast and writers to move on to new projects before they became too Typecast . It is likely that they actually survived the crash, as the fall did not kill them (they are heard to exclaim "Phew, that was close!" just before the explosion) and in the end of ''Cash'' when Vyvyan does a massive fart, Mike lights him a cigar, blowing the house to smithereens without any of them being killed. After the series The end of the series was not the last appearance of The Young Ones. For the British fundraiser Comic Relief, the four recorded a song and videoclip for Cliff Richard's Living Doll, accompanied by Richard himself. At one time around 1984 a they even gave a live performance, but to their surprise it turns out it's Bob Geldof instead of Cliff. Or at least, that is the only evening released on videotape. DVD releases have been rather disappointing: only the US edition featured documentaries and none of the extra footage known to exist was included, such as the music video, raw footage, and TV announcements. Moreover musical references proved difficult to clear so "Hello darkness my old friend" and "Subterranean homesick blues" were simply deleted. LINKS WITH OTHER SERIES Mayall and Edmondson elaborated on some of the series' concepts later in their sitcoms '' Filthy Rich & Catflap '' (written by Elton) and '' Bottom ''. Most of the regular cast (and several of the guests) also appeared in Channel 4 's anthology of comedy films, '' The Comic Strip Presents ''. All four main actors have gained reputations as dramatic, as well as comedic, actors. Christopher Ryan occasionally appeared as one of Edina's ex-husbands in Absolutely Fabulous . In one episode of the show, '' Bambi '', the four appeared on University Challenge , where they played against Footlights College, Oxbridge . The episode title is a reference to the show's presenter, Bamber Gascoigne . The name Footlights College is a reference to Footlights drama club at Cambridge University . Three characters on the Footlights College team were played by actors that had been members of the real Cambridge Footlights. One member of the fictional Footlights College team, Stephen Fry , had actually previously appeared on '' University Challenge '' in real life. In a bizarre example of life imitating art a contestant on a real-life edition of ''University Challenge,'' not knowing the answer to a question that had been asked, answered " Toxteth O'Grady , USA ", as it had been the answer to two questions used in ''The Young Ones''' version. Mayall made guest appearances in the first, second and fourth seasons of '' Blackadder '', another cult British comedy series co-written by Elton, as well as Edmondson, who plays Baron Von Richthofen in "Private Plane". GUESTS Guest appearances
Musical guests
No musical act appeared on the episode ''Flood''; instead, a Lion Tamer was recruited to fit the criteria for a light entertainment budget. He did his act in Mike's bedroom (for the purposes of the plot - in reality he was super-imposed) and did not receive a crediting. Vyvyan refers to him at the end as 'Bobby'. EPISODE LIST Series 1 (1982)
Series 2 (1984)
QUOTES
EXTERNAL LINKS
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