The Young Ones

The Young Ones

-British sitcom first broadcast in 1982.
-Ran for 2 seasons on BBC2.
-It had an anarchic, offbeat humor that helped bring alternative comedy to TV in the 1980s and made its writers and performers better known. Not too long after it debuted, it started premiering on MTV, which made it one of the first non-music TV shows on the channel, which had started very early in the 1980s
-The main characters were 4 undergraduate students sharing a house. It consisted of violent punk Vyvyan(Adrian Edmundson), pompous would-be anarchist Rick(Rik Mayall), long suffering hippie Neil(Nigel Planer) and suave, short Mike(Christopher Ryan). It also featured Alexei Sayle, who played various members of the Balowski family-most often Jerzei Balowski, the quartet's landlord-and occasional independent characters, such as the train driver in "Bambi"
-The show combined sitcom style with violent slapstick, surrealism. These older things were mixed with the working and lower middle class attitudes of the 1980s comedy boom. Almost every episode featured a live performance by a then up-and-coming pop band, including Madness, Motorhead and The Damned.
-According to the BBC's Best Sitcom poll, The Young Ones ranked at #31

History
-The series started on London's comedy club circuit during the late 1970s. Most of the cast gained popularity at the Comedy Store. Alexei Sayle was the prominent act then, drawing attention as the manic main act. Adrian Edmundson and Rik Mayall worked as the double act 20th Century Coyote, which later became the Dangerous Brothers. Nigel Planer was in a double act with Peter Richardson called the Outer Limits

Overview
-Stories were set in a squalid house where the students lived during their time at Scumbag College.
-When it first premiered, the show gained attention for it's violent slapstick. Though new to mainstream TV, Mayall and Edmundson had been using it in w0th Century Coyote for some time. The show also featured some surreal elements, such as puppets playing talking animals or objects.
-Throughout the show, the fouth wall is frequently broken for comedic effect by all characters on the show. Alexei Sayle breaks both the 4th wall and his character to address the audience in his real life Liverpudlian accent.

-The series featured a variety of guest cameo appearances by comedians, actors and singers. They include co-creator Ben Elton, Dawn French, Jennifer Saunders, Hale and Pace, Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie, Mark Arden, Stephen Frost, Jools Holland, Terry Jones of Monty Python fame, future Red Dwarf starts Chris Barrie and Norman Lovett, Lenny Henry, David Rappaport, Emma Thompson

Episode List
Did You Know?
-Despite being set in North London, the external scenes were actuall filmed in Bristol
-Many then and current BBC stars appeared on the show, such as Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders(French and Saunders, Absolutely Fabulous), Hugh Laurie(House), Emma Thompson(drama), Stephen Fry(comedian), Mel Smith and Griff Rhys Jones(Alas Smith and Jones), Robbie Coltrane(Hagrid in Harry Potter), Lenny Henry(comedian), Ben Elton(playwright, comedian).