Comedy Series Review: The Young Ones

The Cast of the Young Ones;
Jerzei Balowski, Neil, Rick, Mike and Vyvyan

Over 30 years ago, in London, there was a successful club circuit for young stand-up comedians. The success of the scene prompted the BBC to approach a few of the most successful stand-up acts and make a series with them. This became The Young Ones.

The Young Ones follows the lives of Rick, Neil, Mike and Vyvyan, four lazy students living in a shared house in the early 80's. The massive differences between their personalities and their regular violent clashes made this series one of the big hits of the time. It's profound violence, blood, sex and foulness had never been seen before in any mainstream comedy series and certainly not in a flagship series at the BBC. Several attempts have been made by other series since to incorporate these matters into their shows, but never quite as successful as The Young Ones.

Rick is a wannabe leftie anarchist and Cliff Richard fan. Deep down he really is quite conservative and doesn't actually come from a worker's class background, but from an upper-class conservative family. He writes horrible poetry and refers to himself as “The People's Poet” and “the voice of a generation”. Vyvyan has described him as a “classic example of an only child” due to his entitled nature and tantrum-throwing.

Mike refers to himself as 'the cool guy'. It is unclear whether this is his actual surname, or just a title. He assumes the position of ladies' man and natural leader of the house. These positions are also challenged, as he is often shown to share his bed with a blow-up doll and in one episode he nearly admitted to being a virgin. His authority is mainly enforced by Vyvyan tolerating his authority and Rick's sucking up to him.

Vyvyan isn't entertained

Vyvyan is often described as a bastard. He is a punker with orange hair, and metal stars apparently embossed into his forehead. He sometimes portrays superhuman strength and abilities, such as his extremely high tolerance of alcohol, his ability to eat virtually everything, his teeth being able to bite trough bricks and his power to lift people above his head with apparently little effort. He is on occasion able to solve complicated calculations fast and without the aid of a calculator or even pen and paper, although he can't tell time from a watch.

Neil is the final member of the house. He is a clinically depressed hippie and stoner who has attempted suicide on at least 4 occasions in the show. He is generally abused by the rest of the house, and is forced to perform housework and cook for the rest. He believes sleeping causes cancer and as such tries not to sleep, although he is on occasion shown sleeping. He has several hippie friends including Warlock, Neil and a female friend called Stonehenge. This possibly makes him the house-mate with the most friends and definitely the only one with a female friend. 

The Young Ones aired 12 episodes over 2 seasons as well as several specials including a hit single with Cliff Richard's Living Doll to benefit Comic Relief. Despite its short lifespan it has won a BAFTA and has had several DVD releases around the world. An American pilot was also made for FOX but it wasn't picked up, much to the relief of Nigel Planer (Neil) as he was the only actor from the original cast to join and he was worried he'd have to spend 6 years with people he hated making sort of a grubby Benny Hill. The series remains popular and has inspired numerous other alternative comedy shows and sitcoms.