The Young Ones: From out of the Shadows
Published: Sunday 22nd June 2025
When Cliff Richard and the Shadows released their chart-topping single The Young Ones (written for the film of the same name) in 1962, little did they, or anyone, know the track would be equal parts honoured and subverted almost exactly twenty years later.
The early 1980s was a pioneering time for comedy; a veritable opportunity for experimentation that would see punk - almost nihilistic - attitudes of anti-everything make their way onto the stand-up circuit. London's Comedy Store, established in 1979, would be a breeding ground for the rise of alternative comedians, hell-bent on giving two fingers to the rulebook.
Alexei Sayle, Rik Mayall, Adrian Edmondson, Nigel Planer, Peter Richardson, Ben Elton, Paul Merton, Jo Brand, Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders are names that would become synonymous with the British stand-up scene of the Thatcher years. Careers were forged in the irons of the Comedy Store, but before the days of The Young Ones, there was the Comic Strip group.
If the Comedy Store was the nexus point of alternative comedy, then The Comic Strip was seemingly the next logical step. Formed by Mayall, Edmondson, French, Saunders, Planer and Richardson - with appearances by Alexei Sayle, Keith Allen and the late Anthony Robert McMillan (AKA Robbie Coltrane) - it was a way for the young comedians to break into their own territory.
Beginning in 1980, The Comic Strip (later The Comic Strip Presents... when it made the move to TV) was a breeding ground for political satire, surrealism, slapstick violence, and all-around silliness; basically all the hallmarks that would form one of the wildest sitcoms since the Python era.
Having already found success with both the Comedy Store and its Comic Strip offshoot, the troupe of alternative stand-up alumni embarked on their next endeavour.
Effectively rebranding The Comic Strip as a sitcom, The Young Ones had the confidence to be a defining moment in British TV history. The already-established comedy stylings of Rik Mayall and Ben Elton were a match made in slapstick heaven, utilising what they'd honed over the years to formulate a show with lashings of unique outlandishness.
Co-written by Lise Mayer, who would go on to work on Just For Laughs and write a couple of episodes of The Fast Show, and with additional material from Sayle, the scripts for all 12 episodes for The Young Ones presented a formidable shake-up.
Up until this point, the likes of The Good Life, Are You Being Served? and George And Mildred (celebrated though they were) had become the "sitcom de rigeur"; wholesome in their (just about) middle class representations, but missing much of that youthful edge that was surely bubbling away in a society of students angry at neoconservative British values.
Not that outrageous TV that appealed more to younger audiences didn't exist, of course. The aforementioned Monty Python had paved the way for silliness and absurdity in comedy years before, while a post-Python John Cleese was showing us his angriest and most cynical side in Fawlty Towers. Both shows had a huge influence on The Young Ones.
What we were about to become witness to was a rise in TV edginess, manifested through a love of biting satire and a celebration of the ridiculous, wrapped up in student escapades. Plus violence. The coming together of the youthful, punk-influenced disruptors was a chance to upset the established order of the more sedate sitcom formula at the time.
With Mayall as the hapless and neurotic wannabee-poet Rik, Edmondson as the psychotic heavy metal anarchist Vyvyan, Planer as the down-on-his-luck "smelly" hippy Neil and Sayle popping in as the eccentric landlord Jerzei Balowski, The Young Ones could begin. It immediately established the troupe as a band of luckless students, forced to share university accommodation as they farted and fought their way through life in what would become the show's signature brand.
But, wait. Isn't there someone missing? Where's Peter Richardson? Surely, as one of the original line-up of the alternative Comedy Store scene, Richardson should have been an obvious choice to play one of the Young Ones' main characters. Sadly, 'twas not to be. His clashes with Paul Jackson - the show's producer - left him to abandon the project and continue to focus on The Comic Strip.
Enter: Christopher Ryan (real name: Christopher Papazoglou). At once something of an outlier, he was the only member of the cast to not have got his start in stand-up comedy. Ryan's background was in professional acting, beginning his career in episodes of British dramas like Target, Angels and Fox before a move into comedy would see his fame truly take off.
But before becoming a household name in his own right, thanks to regular appearances in Absolutely Fabulous and Bottom (essentially a spiritual successor to The Young Ones and the short-lived Filthy Rich & Catflap), Ryan had the difficult job of taking over a role originally intended for Richardson: Mike. But fill those shoes he did.
To say that The Young Ones was something of an anarchic experiment would be accurate. However, it wasn't without plot, character development, humour, or even a budget. Our first introduction to the sitcom - back in November 1982 - bleeds the title track the show is named after into the opening shot.
We see Rik - Mayall's brash, anti-fascist poet alter-ego who had already been crafted on-stage prior to the show - dancing enthusiastically to the closing notes of the Shadows' famous song. His moves are bouncy, like a toddler jumping up and down for attention. Close by, Neil prepares a grubby meal in the equally grubby flat the four students share.
Neil's hippie outbursts are in stark contrast to Rik's angry yet somewhat poetic sensibilities, and it's not too long until we meet the other two housemates. Within moments, Mike enters, decked out in golfing attire, complete with a professional golf bag, looking like his generation's Nick Faldo. He announces his presence, literally referring to himself as "Mike, the cool person" before striding over to Neil, narrating his suave technique at casual conversation.
Then we meet Vyvyan, bursting through the wall of the dining area, landing on the table. We see him clutching what looks like a bagged up severed limb, as plasterboard and dust coats his heavy metal denim jacket and orange spiked hair. This, the show says, is the psychotic character of the bunch. This, some less progressive audience members may think, is not how sitcoms are supposed to be.
We're ten minutes into the very first episode and we feel like we already know these characters, know their dynamic and their neuroses. We know this is not something we've seen before.
That's one thing The Young Ones doesn't do: subtly. It's not a sitcom that gently suggests themes or guides you to clever and droll conclusions. It promptly sticks two fingers up at you and then vomits on your comedic expectations. At first glance, there's even a degree of uncertainty about what the programme wants to show itself as.
Between talking puppet rats, Vyvyan discovering some bricks explode when he bites them, Robbie Coltrane as a scientist that drops a giant chocolate éclair on the housemates, the senseless violence that permeates throughout each episode, there are also the more social commentary assets.
We're front row centre for Rik's diatribes against Thatcherism and youth-lead TV shows that think they're the voice of his generation. Adding to this, we get out and out mockery of the powers of the police, which includes institutional racism and questionable constabulary intelligence being shown in the harsh light of day.
Then there's Vyvyan's rant about the niceties of contemporary British sitcoms, such as the aforementioned The Good Life. It's in such moments that we see The Young Ones' modus operandi: to be a self-referential and swear-y counter to the established media of its day, dog-piling on the middle classes of television. That's what the Comic Strip crew is all about.
Throw into this mix a host of musical guests, which includes on-location performances by such acts as Nine Below Zero, Madness, Dexys Midnight Runners, The Damned and - perhaps most rock 'n' roll of them all - Motörhead. This was the result of an attempt to increase the budget, having had the sitcom commissioned not as a scripted comedy, but a variety programme, through a different, higher-spending department.
Despite its brief stint, lasting only two series (Ade Edmondson said on Richard Herring's podcast that the show represented just a couple of weeks of his now-lengthy career), The Young Ones is still held aloft as one of the most anarchic sitcoms in British history, daring to not only show the surreal and silly side of slapstick violence, but to also kill of its main characters at the end, in a fitting tribute to Cliff Richard and the Shadows, that ensures the show's ultimate end.
It felt like a palette cleanser against all the "nice" programmes that typified network sensibilities and attitudes, and its evolution into the comedy that would follow in its wake resonates in every angry comic and scriptwriter's very being, though no one could ever replicate such an originator.
Where to start?
Series 2, Episode 1 - Bambi
Aired on 8th May 1984, we see Rik, Vyvyan, Neil, and Mike as they take on University Challenge, the long-standing student quiz show that is still regarded highly for its intellectual pursuits.
It's not just a chance to see them out of their comfort zone, but to also offer another opportunity for Elton and Mayall to poke fun at the upper and middle class of society. Faced against the snobbery and elitism of the Footlights College team, Scumbag College (the unseen education establishment of The Young Ones) swear, fart, and smash their way to victory in a manner only this sitcom could get away with. In addition, we also get to see Motörhead perform Ace Of Spades. Most shows would turn their noses up at having the pioneers of early heavy/thrash metal be guests, but: that's the way I like it, baby!
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Love comedy? Find out moreThe Young Ones - The Complete Collection: 40th Anniversary Edition
Do not lean out of the window! Join Vyv, Rick, Neil, and Mike in celebrating the 40th anniversary of the iconic cult sitcom, The Young Ones, released on Blu-ray for the very first time - so you can enjoy the squalor as never before. Including 10 new exclusive audio commentaries, featurettes and never-before-seen bonus material. From Scumbag College to the AEC Routemaster, this is the ultimate complete collection of this classic British comedy.
There was Mike, the suave, sensible one; Vyvyan, the psychotic punk-metal mohican; Neil, the lentil loving hippy and Rick, right-on anarchist revolutionary and Cliff Richard fan: four students - desperate for money, excitement, girls or just something to help fill the day - sharing a house. From this simple set up came an amazing speedball of comic caricature, slapstick, infantile humour, animation, musical performances, rants, violence, abuse and surreal jokes - leaving an impression as jaw-dropping as finding one of Vyvyan's steel-capped boots through our television screens. The Young Ones brought the irreverence, anarchy and energy of the new alternative comedy movement to situation comedy - and it would never be the same again.
First released: Monday 28th November 2022
Blu-ray- Distributor: BBC Studios
- Region: B
- Discs: 3
- Minutes: 408
- Subtitles: English
- Catalogue: BBCBD0571
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