'Vivien you B*****d!' (Young Ones, The)

Member Name: Moominpapa

Product:	Young Ones, The
Date:	22/01/01 (156 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Original, hilarious, and it started the carrers of some of the finest comedians of today

Disadvantages: Mike can be very wooden at times

Alternate comedy was given a shot of adrenaline in November 1982, when The Young Ones first hit our screens. It ran from then until June 1984, with 2 series, six episodes to a series and is one of the finest British sitcoms of all time. It wasn’t until The Young Ones that sitcoms had shown limb or digit amputations, decapitations, arcing jets of snot, or extreme pain being inflicted on Rik Mayall, usually involving Ade Edmondson and a cricket bat. The show also lay the foundations for Rik and Ade’s comedy series, Bottom, on which I was raised to be the rude and offensive human being I am today.

Students
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The show follows the hilarious antics of four students living in a house, which they rent from Jertsey Bolovski (Alexei Sayle). The Young Ones showed students in a new light, and founded a new stereotype for them. They are not hard-working, well-turned-out individuals, but scruffy, skint virgins, and they all have a completely different personality.

Vivien

Vivien Basterd, the studded denim-clad medical student is played by Adrian Edmondson. He has a throbbing hatred of Rick and spends most of his time beating him senseless with various household objects and is often the source of many other violent out breaks in the house, such as arson and mass destruction.

Neil

Neil Pye, the suicidal hippy environmentalist is played by Nigel Planer. He is constantly abused and injured by his housemates, as well as being made to cook all the meals, which usually consist of lentils, but the odd snow risotto can be seen. Neil’s certainty that everyone hates him fuels his attempted suicides, which all go terribly wrong.

Rick

Rick (Rik Mayall) (I can’t remember his surname) is dead set against fascism and hates the pigs (police to any of you upper classes). Constantly protecting his Cornflakes from Vivien has made the two worst enemies, although his hatred for Vivien can never over
come his hatred for hippies i.e. Neil.

Mike

Mike Coolperson pretends he has girls fighting over him all the time and always keeps his cool in a crisis. He never goes into college (much like the others) and only stays because he’s blackmailing his superiors. Mike is the only person in the house who doesn’t have any major enemies and is respected by all.

Alexei Sayle not only stars as Jertsey Bolovski, but the entire Bolovski family. He’s also responsible for some memorable songs such as ‘Dr. Martin Boots’ and ‘Stupid Noises’.

Although each episode concentrates on the four housemates, they are interspersed with various sketches and music acts. Many famous faces first appeared on The Young Ones, such as Robbie Coltrane, French and Saunders, Lenny Henry, and Hale and Pace. Although Christopher Ryan and Nigel Planer did move on to other comedy ventures, it was Rik and Ade who continued together as an amazing double act, which they started in the days of Saturday Night Live as ‘The Dangerous Brothers’. Since the show Nigel Planer has tried to shake off his image as Neil, but has failed because he played the part so well and is probably the nations favourite character. He teamed up with Rik and Ade again in the comic strip short films, ‘Three men in a car’ and ‘Three men on a plane’.

Here a guide to each episode of the two series.
*The episode information is quoted from The Young Ones series 1 and 2 video covers*

Series 1
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Written by : Ben Elton, Rik Mayall and Lisa Mayer
Produced by : Paul Jackson
Directed by : Geoff Posner
Total Running Time: 200 mins approx

‘DEMOLITION’
‘Fascist oiks at the Town Hall want to demolish the house. Why bother with Vyv around to do the business for them?’

‘OIL’
‘As Rick, Vyv, Neil and Mike move into their new
house, the talking statue at the front door begins an odessey of zaniness that is to culminate in a worker’s revolution and a fully fledged benefit concert in the front room.’

‘BORING’
‘Is life really that boring for the four students? A terrorist siege in their own house; a visitation from Hel; a fairy tale world that flourishes while they sleep. A yet they are so B-O-R-E-D that Neil is driven to dig himself a grave and Vyv chops a finger off.’

‘BOMB’
‘A potentially explosive situation erupts when a bomb falls on the house …But worse! The TV license man calls.’

‘INTERESTING’
‘It’s party-time! Where else could you mingle with the four horsemen of the Apocalypse, a giant sandwich and a singing tomato? Pretty amazing stuff eh? Just ignore Neil’s boring hippy friend chilling-out in the fridge…’

‘FLOOD’
‘While London floods Rick tries to elevate proceedings with a game of hide-and-seek. Meanwhile his sociology file is set on fire by Vyv, Mike’s room is occupied by a pride of lions, and landlord, Alexei Sayle turns into an axe-weilding homicidal maniac.’

Series 2
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Written by : Ben Elton, Rik Mayall and Lisa Mayer
Produced by : Paul Jackson
Directed by : Geoff Posner
Total Running Time: 206 mins approx

‘BAMBI’
‘Who produced the world’s stickiest bogey and the world’s stupidest bottom-burp? Who’s smashing the oiks on University Challenge and who’s swatting away for teacher like a total spazmo?’

‘CASH’
‘Hey man! It’s really weird! Strange things keep happening. Like plates are disappearing and the tables keep, well, shrinking. Looks like there’s a poltergoost in the house…’

‘NASTY’
‘Ashes to ashes, fu
nk to funky, Vyv is now a video head and Neil’s wearing a dress because some really selfish negative vibe merchant boarded up his bedroom. Only pop music can save them now.’

‘SICK’
‘There’s bogeys on the blankets and snot on the sheets when Neil and the others come down with the worst colds in the history of civilisation!’

‘SUMMER HOLIDAY’
‘Hey, everybody! School’s out! Hurray! Hurray! Except, like there’s nothing to do, man, apart from getting on a big red bus and having a really explosive trip. It should be pretty good fun, actually.’

Memorable quote
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‘Oh you should have heard me in the Undertakers Mike. I kept making all these jokes about him coming round to measure my stiffy!’

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