
Archive-name: tv/british-comedy/young-ones/part2
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Last updated: 29 September 1996
Version: 1.41
URL: http://pobox.com/~brit-com/Comedy/YoungOne2.html

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                    YOUNG ONES FAQ (2/2) v 1.41
                    ===========================

         Created by Andrew Wong (achwong@bradford.ac.uk)

This is part 2 of the FAQ, designed for (in the words of Steve Rapport) "the
anal retentive" who wants to know everything there ever was to know about The
Young Ones. If you need some catching up, might I kindly refer you to part one
of the FAQ, which has the main basic information, such as where to see it...

                            Contents
                            ========

1. Who featured in the series ?
     1a. Mark Arden and Stephen Frost
     1b. Robbie Coltrane
     1c. Ben Elton
     1d. Dawn French
     1e. Gareth Hale and Norman Pace
     1f. Jools Holland
     1g. David Rappaport
     1h. Tony Robinson
     1j. Jennifer Saunders
     1k. Alexei Sayle
     1m. Special Patrol Group
     1n. Other people who feature once
2. British slangs and -isms
     2a. Quick definitions
     2b. Cliff Richard
     2c. The two-fingered salute
     2d. TV licences
     2e. O-levels and A-levels
     2f. Felicity Kendall
3. Quotable Lines
4. Rick's (The People's Poet) Peoples' Poems
     4a. Cliff
     4b. House
     4c. Pollution
     4d. Free-form
     4e. The Peoples' Poem
     4f. Rick's Teen Anguish Poem
     4g. Rick's Trotsky poem
5. Cliff Richard and The Young Ones - a bit of the script.
6. Location
7. The strange person at the back of the house
8. Memories of the time
9. When was it transmitted ?
10. What are these flash-frames I keep hearing about ?
11. Reactions to the Young Ones
12. Looking back on the Young Ones
13. Little bits that don't fit in anywhere else
14. Spin-offs
15. Other articles on the Internet
16. Contributors and thanks

                 1. Who featured in the series ?
                 ===============================

1a. Mark Arden and Stephen Frost
--------------------------------
     BORING: two policemen in the front page of The Guardian
INTERESTING: two party crashers
       CASH: two Elizabethan ghosts
      NASTY: two secret agents (Sweater & Ruffles)
       SICK: two muck-men, Mick & Tess

1b. Robbie Coltrane
-------------------
  OIL: Sully the bouncer at Mike's roller-disco
BAMBI: Dr. Carlisle who finds human beings the size of ameobas
 TIME: Captain on the Pirate Radio Station holding the Dull Religious
       Music Show

1c. Ben Elton
-------------
      DEMOLISH: the presenter of Nozin' Around
         BAMBI: Kendal Mintcake, the Oxbridge oik who got the
                Socialist Worker Party for his birthday
         FLOOD: The blind DJ interviewing an armless female singer
          SICK: The schoolboy in the Grange Hill spoof
SUMMER HOLIDAY: the guy in the advert drinking "Hawk" lager

1d. Dawn French
---------------
INTERESTING: the violent Bible-bashing preacher
      NASTY: the Devil in the Pain-Away commercial
       TIME: The Easter Bunny

1e. Gareth Hale (the one with the moustache) & Norman Pace
----------------------------------------------------------
NASTY: two grave diggers
 TIME: two peasants

1f. Jools Holland
-----------------
          CASH: part of the band
SUMMER HOLIDAY: the punk with the enormous mohawk at the bank

1g. David Rappaport (the dwarf in TIME BANDITS and LA LAW)
-------------------
BORING: Ftmsch, the red dwarf from Hell
 FLOOD: Shirley, the Wicked Witch's servant

(He later killed himself partly due to the lack of serious roles)

1h. Tony Robinson
-----------------
BAMBI: The doctor looking after the Elephant Man
NASTY: one of the criminals bound for Australia

1j. Jennifer Saunders
---------------------
INTERESTING: the party-goer with lots of toy mice in her handbag
       TIME: Helen Mucus, Rick's girlfriend ?!!!

1k. Alexei Sayle (The Balowski family)
----------------
   DEMOLISH: Jerzei Balowski, their Polish landlord.
        OIL: Alexei Yuri...Balowski, the lead singer of the band.
     BORING: Billy Balovski, Jerzei's clinically insane brother, who drove
             in from Brazil to imitate a Dalek using a cactus pot.
       BOMB: Reggie Balowski, the Cockney arms dealer.
INTERESTING: drunk party-goer who pukes all over a posh person.
      FLOOD: Jerzei (the landlord), who turns into an axe-wielding
             homicidal maniac.

         BAMBI: A train driver
          CASH: A police officer who looks remarakbly similar to
                Mussolini and becomes a stand-up comedian at nights
         NASTY: A South African Communist vampire - or is he ?
          TIME: Host of "Jester Balowski's Medieval Torture Hour"
          SICK: Brian Damage Balowski, an escaped murderer
SUMMER HOLIDAY: Jerzei Balowski, the dreaded landlord

1m. Special Patrol Group
------------------------
Vyvyan's pet, a Scottish hamster with an attitude who likes
sleeping in front of Vyvyan's car, and giving Glasgow kisses
to teddy bears.

1n. People who occasionally pop up
----------------------------------
         Mark Arden: BOMB as the "gay" husband on the cornflakes packet
Helen Atkinson-Wood: NASTY as the woman condemned to Hell
       Chris Barrie: NASTY as Captain of the ship bound for Australia
       Arthur Brown: FLOOD
       Alan Freeman: CASH and SUMMER HOLIDAY as God
        Stephen Fry: BAMBI as Lord Snot, a contestant on University
                     Challenge from Footlights College, Oxbridge
      Ronnie Golden: OIL as Buddy Holly
        Lenny Henry: SUMMER HOLIDAY as the Nazi postman
   Griff Rhys Jones: BAMBI as the quiz-host of University Challenge
        Terry Jones: NASTY as the drunken priest. He is better
                     known as a member of the Monty Python team.
        Hugh Laurie: BAMBI as Lord Monty from Footlights College
      Helen Lederer: SUMMER HOLIDAY, as the female
                     "Good morning sir" bank teller.
      Norman Lovett: SUMMER HOLIDAY - the owner of the Penny Arcade
         Lise Mayer: SUMMER HOLIDAY, as the woman Ben Elton is
                     chatting up in the Sharp advert (?)
        Paul Merton: He *MAY* be in TIME, as there is a credit
                     there for "Paul Morton"...
       Roger Sloman: BOMB as the TV licence inspector
          Mel Smith: BAMBI, the security guard at Granada studios.
      Emma Thompson: BAMBI as Miss Money-Sterling, the Oxbridge oik
	  				 who has a Porsche.

                   2. British slangs and -isms
                   ===========================

2a. Quick definitions
---------------------
     	          biro: Bic / ball-point pen
      Bob's your uncle: there you are etc.
            	  call: to visit or telephone someone (erm....)
          	flares: bell-bottoms
"Number two's" (slang): faeces / poo / s**t (rhyming slang)
       out on the pull: trying to find someone of the opposite sex
              pavement: sidewalk
                  ring: call on the telephone
		       skiving: to shirk away from doing any work
            	  snog: any kiss that isn't platonic <;-)
				Sorry?: Huh ? What ?
		 take the piss: to make fun of, to deflate one's Ego
              	    ta: Thanks (informal)
				wanker: derogatory term for a person who
masturbates

2b. Cliff Richard
-----------------
He is such an institution in the UK, I find it difficult to believe no-one in
the US has heard of him, but anyway...

Cliff started out as being Britain's answer to Elvis Presley in the 1950s, and
at one stage he out-sold Elvis. Like Elvis, he starred in a few British films
that involved Cliff saving Youth culture from the big square daddy-ios, films
like THE YOUNG ONES, and SUMMER HOLIDAY - in which Cliff chartered a London bus
to take his chums to Greece for a holiday and a quick snog...

	He is still going strong today, selling out auditoriums mainly to
middle-aged women. He is reknown for his Christian beliefs.
    For a guy who's 50 years old, it's amazing he's managed to stay so long in
the business. And it cannot be denied he has a better voice than most "pop"
stars today. The quality of the songs he sings are rather questionable to say
the least...

Basically, he's not the sort of artiste a hip, happening politically aware
student like Rik would be into. It's a perfect tacky pop star, that British
students have a unique fascination for...

2c. The two-fingered salute
---------------------------
The UK equivalent of the middle-finger salute, though not as rude.
It's like saying Piss Off or something equally strong.

2d. TV licences (BOMB)
----------------------
     The BBC does not rely on advertising for its' revenue. Instead any
household that owns a TV in the United Kingdom must pay a licence fee for the
privilege of owning a television. The money is then handed over to the BBC and
used to fund its' programming.
     It's illegal to own a TV without a licence so TV detector vans
periodically patrol the streets looking for TV receivers. Then the house is
checked with the TV licence records, and if the house does not have a licence,
the house is in biiiiiiig trouble - a fine of up to 2000 (US $3000) can be
charged. At the moment, a year's licence costs around 80 (US $120)
     Students are reknown for not paying their licence. I only got
away with it because I wasn't in when they came knocking at my door !

2e. O-levels and A-levels
-------------------------
     O-levels were the exams taken by 16 year olds before they left school. A
"C" grade was considered a pass. You needed 5 passes to be allowed to the next
stage of British education, which was usually A-levels. Generally, British
students take 3 A-levels, and the grades you eventually get determine which
university you get to. If you get AAA, you get to go to the great universities
of Oxford, Cambridge and Bradford :) If you get less than that, you are more
likely to head for the "red-brick" universities or the polytechnics (vocational
colleges)
    O-levels were eliminated in 1987 in favour of GCSEs. Many older
people tend to complain that GCSEs are much easier than O-levels...

2f. Felicity Kendall (sigh)
---------------------------
She was one of those British actresses who used to pop up on safe, middle-class
British sitcoms in the 1970s like The Good Life, Good Neighbours etc. She was
also voted Rear Of The Year some time in the early 1970s. It is rumoured that
many teenagers growing up in the late 70s like The Young Ones developed crushes
on her. It's also a sympton of the stoodent population liking things totally
unyouthlike e.g. the current trend for Johnny Cash, Mr. Blobby and Are You
Being Served?

By the way, she apparently appeared nude in Tom Stoppard's play Indian Ink last
year...
                        3. Quotable Lines
                        =================

DEMOLITION
----------
Neil : "Guys, there's some dinner on the floor if you want it"

OIL
---
Rik & Vyv : "Neil, your bedroom's on fire !"
Neil : "No way man ! Everyone knows sleep gives you CANCER!"

BORING
------
Neil : "I just looked at it and it blew up !"
Policeman : "That's white man's electricity you're using."
            (to be used with heavily emphasised smilies !)

Neil : "Guys, why don't we, like, try going to lectures tomorrow ?"
Mike : "Neil, I know things are bad but there's no need to panic ! No, I'll
        just treat this problem like my mattress - and sleep on it."

Rick : "Wouldn't it be amazing if all this (Monopoly) money was real?"
 Vyv : "Rick, that is the single most predictable and boring thing that
        anyone could ever say whilst playing Monopoly."


BOMB
----
Neil : "It's like the kettle killed itself rather than be used by me..."
Mike : "If people weren't sick, we wouldn't need penicillin"
Mike : "A social conscience is like a garden fence, you try to eat
        it, it'll get stuck in your throat."
Rick : "No, YOU put my address down. Rick, 15 Credibility Street"
       (at the Social Security office)
Rick : "Tomorrow everyone in England will be free, and there will be no more
        social prejudice or hatred. GET UP NEIL, I HATE YOU !!!!!!!"

INTERESTING
-----------
Neil's hippie friend Neil: "My barely adequate psychic defences are crumbling!"
Rick : "You bought me a present! It's a telescope -- a telescope with a mouse
        in it!"
Professor Jim Morrison: "Wow, what is this stuff - tobacco or ... Pink Floyd ?"
Neil's hippie friend Neil : "Wow - it's so uncoool !"

FLOOD
-----
Rick : "God, I'm bored. Might as well be listening to Genesis"
Rick : "There's nothing poofy about a man wanting to love his fellow man- It's
 		just when they start touching each others' bottoms...." - (to be
used
 		with heavy smilies)

 Vyv: "I put it (serum that turns you into an axe-wielding homicidal
       maniac) in a Coke can so nobody'd drink it by mistake."
Neil: "You know, I just bet that a bit later on someone does drink that
       and turns into an axe-wielding homicidal maniac.
Rick: "Yes, I bet that as well. That's just the sort of crazy imaginative
       thing that happens around here."

Mr. Balowski : "Ah, Coca-Cola, symbol of free West!"
Rick : "There's no one in here, Mr. Balowski! We're all holograms !"
Neil : "Oh, well, out of one frying pan, into another frying pan."

BAMBI
-----
Vyv : "You haven't got a sister, Rick! You're the classic example of an only
       child."
Vyv : "This calls for a very special blend of psychology and extreme violence."

Rick: "Honestly, I don't know why I bother sometimes..."
 Vyv: "I don't know why you bother ever."

Neil : "Socks aren't vegetables,man, they should be wiped out !"
Rick : "Hands up who likes me !"
Miss Money-Sterling : "I've got a Porsche -bwaha haha ha"
					  (a.k.a. Emma Thompson)

CASH
----
Vyv : "Neil, is it really necessary to nail the plates to the table? What
	   happens when we want to play Monopoly? Go directly to plate? Do not
pass
	   plate nailed to the table by a stupid hippie?"
Neil : "Boom shanka...May the seed of your loins be fruitful in the belly of
		your woman."

NASTY
-----
Rick: "Oh, that's right, Vyvyan. If the mountain won't come to Muhammed, smash
       the drawing room to pieces. That's very Buddhist, isn't it!"
Rick: "Neil, the bathroom's free! Unlike the country under the Thatcherite
	   junta."

Rick: "Neil, is it really necessary to have the light on when
       you're in the bath?"
Neil: "Well, yeah."
Rick: "Why, what are you planning to do - photosynthesize?"

Mike : "What's that thumping?"
 Vyv : "Oh, it's probably Rick doing a bit of reading."

Vyv : "YES !! WE'VE GOT A VIDEO !!!"
Mike : "I hate to say anything negative, but no."
Vyv : "Rick, shut up or I'll kill you."
Neil : "Flares are coming back in -- I read it in my horoscope!"
Rick : "Neil, how are you keeping that flowerpot up?!?"
Rick : "Oh, no. The front door's exploded."
Vyv : "'Vyvyan, Vyvyan, Vyvyan!' Honestly, whenever anything
       explodes in this house, it's always 'blame Vyvyan!'"
Rick : "What, me, Rick, a virgin? Try telling that to some of the
        foxy chicks who owe me favours."
Rick : "So in fact, all four of us have stayed up for the entire
        night. Now that's what I call anarchy!"

TIME
----
Neil : "Oh no, I'll die if I miss 'Scooby-Doo'!"
Rick : "And that's Vyvyan....being sick"
Mike : "Last one to find the jungle animal has to take off all
        their clothes. (to Helen Mucus) All right, your turn."

SICK
----
Rick : "We never clean the toilet, Neil! That's what being a
        student is all about!"

Neil: "I hope Mike hurries back with the cure!"
 Vyv: "No Neil, it's Madness this week!"

SUMMER HOLIDAY
--------------
Mr. Balowski : "Aw, some sod broke your chair! That's 20 pounds you
                owe me."
Rick : "What's the difference ? There'll be plenty of chicks for these tigers
		on the road to the promised land ! Who cares about Thatcher and
		unemployment ? We can do just exactly whatever we want to do !
And do
		you know why ? Because we're Young Ones ! Bachelor Boys ! Wild
eyed big
		bottomed anarchists ! LOOK OUT !!! CLLLLLIIIIIFFFF !!!"

			4. Rick - The People's Poet and his Poems
			=========================================

For your delectation and delight, some of Rick's superb poems...

4a. "Cliff" (DEMOLITION)
------------------------
Oh, Cliff
Sometimes it must be difficult not to feel as if
You really are a Cliff
When fascists keep trying to push you over it
Are they the lemmings?
Or are you *Cliff*?
Or *are* you, Cliff?

(According to Jon Drukman, it's the second line that makes
sense but Rick has to go and mess up his own poem :)

4b. "House" (DEMOLITION)
-------------------------
House, house, house
Oh, you are made of stone
But you are not alone
-Ly house!

4c. "Pollution" (BOMB)
-----------------------
* First, an extreme close-up of Rick squeezing a spot/boil/pimple*

Pollution
All around
Sometimes up
And sometimes down
But always around.
Pollution, are you coming to my town?
Or am I coming to yours?
We're on different buses, pollution
But we're both using petrol.

4d. "Free-Form" (FLOOD)
------------------------
Marrow
Meringue
Boomerang
Long, blue boomerang...

4e. "The People's Poem" (FLOOD)
--------------------------------
What do you think you're doing, pig?
Do you really give a fig, pig?
And what's your favourite sort of gig, pig?
Barry Manilow
Or the black and white minstrel show?

4f. Rick's Teen Anguish Poem (from the book)
---------------------------------------------
oh god,
why
am I so much more sensitive than everybody else ?
why
do I feel things so much more acutely than them,
and understand so much more.
I bet I'm the first person who's ever felt as rotten as this.
could it be
that I'm going to grow up
to be a great poet and thinker, and all those other wankers in my
   class are going to have to work in factories or go on the dole?
yes, I think it could.

4g. Rick's Trotsky poem (from the book)
----------------------------------------
Today, I saw a dog,
Yes, a dog.
Talking to a pig,
Yes, a pig.
They were on the pavement,
Discussing Trotsky.
Not brotsky or crotsky or drotsky or frotsky.
But Trotsky.

5. Cliff Richard and The Young Ones - Living Doll (a bit of the script)
=======================================================================

     The beginning goes something like this....

*EXPLOSION*

Neil : "Look out everyone, he's coming through the doors."
 Vyv : "BRILLIANT ! He didn't even open them...."
Neil : "He's here !!!!"
Mike : "Quick Rick, do the speech."

*Music starts* (Video - the Young Ones walking down a street, Rick pointing at
the camera)

Rick : "Hey kids, stop snogging and pay attention to me. 'Cos if you're a
		wild-eyed loner standing at the gates of Oblivion, hitch a ride
with
		us. 'Cos we're on the last freedom moped out of Nowhere City,
and we
		haven't even told our parents what time we'll be back ! So put
on your
		dancing trousers, and get down to the utter King of Rock and
Roll,
		CLIFF RICHARD !!!"

Cliff: Got myself a crying talking sleeping walking livin' doll.
       Got to do my best to please her just 'cause she's a livin' doll.
       Got a roving eye and that is why she satisfies my soul,
       I've got the one and only walking talking livin' doll.

       Ok guys, ready Vyv?

  Vyv: Completely ready when you are, Shaky!
Cliff: Neil?
 Neil: Does anybody know where the toilets are?
Cliff: Mike?
 Mike: Hey, does all this money really have to go to charity?
 Rick: Yes it does, Michael! Hi Cliff, it's me!
Cliff: Who are you?
 Rick: Ha ha, great joke your majesty.

Cliff: Got myself a crying talking sleeping walkin livin' doll.
Mike, Neil, Rick and Vyv: Livin' doll!
Cliff: Got to do my best to please her just 'cause she's a livin' doll.
Mike, Neil, Rick and Vyv: Livin' doll!
Cliff: Got a roving eye and that is why she satisfies my soul,
Mike, Neil, Rick and Vyv: 'Fies my soul!
  Vyv: Fies my soul?!
 Rick: Yes Vyvyan, it's raunchy!
  All: I've got the one and only walking talking livin' doll!
 Rick: Ok daddy-o! Lay the next funky riff on me!
 Mike: He means, "What happens now?", Cliff.
Cliff: The instrumental break.

<twangy guitars>

 Vyv: Great Cliff! Which instruments do you want us to break?
      Piano! <smash>
      Violin! <smash>
      Didgeridoo! <smash>
Rick: Vyvyan's trousers! <rip>
 Vyv: Rick's head! <thud>
Neil: Yeah! Ah, ah, Neil's head! <thud>
 Vyv: Hey! Cliff's head!
Mike, Neil and Rick: No! No!

 Rick: Oh take a look at her hair, it's real.
 Neil: If you don't believe what I say ...
 Mike: ... just feel!
 Rick: Fwooaargh!
  Vyv: <loud!> GONNA LOCK HER UP IN A TRUNK!
 Mike: So no big hunk ...
Cliff: ... can steal her away from me.

<more twangy guitars>

Rick: Well, I still feel that locking girls in trunks is politically unsound.
Mike: It's only a song, Rick.
Neil: Well, I feel sorry for the elephant.

Cliff: Got myself a ...
 Neil: ... crying ...
 Vyv: ... talking ...
Mike: ... sleeping ...
Rick: ... walking ...

Mike, Neil, Rick and Vyv: ... livin' doll!

Cliff: Livin' doll.
       Got to do my best to please her just 'cause she's a livin' doll.
Mike, Neil, Rick and Vyv: Livin' doll!

Cliff: Ok guys, harmony now.
Mike, Neil, Rick and Vyv: (badly) Got a roving eye and that is why she
satisfies my soul.

Cliff: 'Fies my soul,
Cliff, Mike, Neil, Rick and Vyv: I've got the one and only walking talking
 livin' doll!

 Rick: Oo-oo-oo-ooooooooh!
Cliff: I've got the one and only walking talking livin' doll.

<twang-twang-twang>

Cliff : "Erm.... can I go now ?"
 Rick : "Er, yeah, thanks Cliff, bye !"

Rick : "Right kids, if you don't buy this record, you're an utter
        utter utter utter utter ..."

(In the video, Vyv knocks out Mike and Neil, then Rick ('utter
ut-*thwack*-ter...'). He then looks around the room, looks at the camera,
smiles, shrugs, and then knocks himself out. And the picture reverts to snow.
On the record, there's the sound effect of a scratch)

If you can remember the rest off the top of your head, let me know!

                           6. Location
                           ===========

Though The Young Ones was based in London (they were all at a North London
polytechnic), the street scenes were filmed in Bristol, because when Paul
Jackson was thinking about The Young Ones that was where he was at the time...

- The house is in Codrington Road, Bristol (student area :-)
- The train station in BAMBI is Bristol Temple Meads.
- The Kebab And Calculator (their local as seen in BORING) is in Bristol and is
  actually called The Cock O' The North, though the landlord is reputed to be a
  complete b*stard. Interestingly, it's one of only two round pubs in the UK.
- In BOMB, Rick walks past Coopington Road...
- When Neil goes to the police station to get a job (CASH) it is actually the
  Bristol North Swimming Baths that he goes to. The army careers office he goes
  to first is about 50 yards down the road (and is actually an RSPCA charity
  shop now). Both are on Gloucester Road, Bristol and are about 100 yards away
  from the shop used as a launderette in BAMBI. They are in the Bishopston area
  of Bristol, where the house might have been set.
- In SUMMER HOLIDAY, the bank that they raid is also the Bristol North Swimming
  Baths. The sign is covered by the 'Fascist Pig Bank' sign or whatever it was
  called. The getaway car is parked beside a line of bollards outside what is
  now the Bristol Flyer pub which is next door to the baths.

(Just shows the lengths to which this FAQ has been carefully researched ;)

         7. The strange person at the back of the house
         ===============================================
(from Simon Jansen - sjan1@cs.aukuni.ac.nz)

	"Has anyone else noticed the strange person who appears to share the
flat
	with the guys. If you look carefully in the first five episodes you can
see
	a mysterious person with long black hair who appears sitting against
walls
	in the background of quite a few scenes. He has his hair over his face
but
	it looks like another hippy. Once you have noticed him he is very
obvious!
	Places I remember seeing him are sitting to the left of the screen in
	INTERESTING when Vyv tries the new vacuum cleaner, behind Mike in
	DEMOLITION when he's reading the TV Times and in BORING, he's next to
the
	cupboard when the old guy comes out from under the stairs. I can spot
him
	in the first five episodes but not after that. Does anyone know who this
	is?"

    Kristen Mirenda thinks it could be the ratty human-sized stuffed animal
(teddy bear?) that's usually propped up in the hall.
    Greg O'Beirne said "it's just meant to be a sort of surrealist sight gag.
It struck me as rather weirdly funny to have what I thought was a corpse just
sitting in the lounge room with nobody noticing it."

And while we're on the subject of strange things, the back of the house (behind
the kitchen area) appears to have been completely re-built between Seasons 1
and 2. I guess the gang came into some money during an untelevised adventure
:-)

                    8. Memories of the time
                    ========================
courtesy of Stuart Jackson (sjackson@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu)

	"I had just started college in England (Hull) when TYO first started -
	October 82.  By the third episode, word had got round so much about how
	good it was, all the public TV rooms in the every hall of residence and
in
	the Students' Union were jammed to the rafters. It was a great
atmosphere.
	In January 83, BBC2 decided to repeat all six episodes, less than six
weeks
	after the original series had finished. Although this practice is common
in
	the US, in the UK it's unheard of to repeat a series so soon. It drew
even
	bigger audiences second time around. In March of that year the Young
Ones
	did a university tour, and Hull was one of the venues. I was lucky
enough
	to get a ticket...naturally it was a sell out. Only Rick, Vyv and Neil
were
	there. Apparently, they'd killed Mike (but he was miraculously revived
of
	course for the second series). Rik Mayall warmed up the crowd doing
Kevin
	Turvey, a Brummie (ie Birmingham) Investigator which he'd made his name
	with. Then Rik and Vyv came on and did their stuff for about 15 minutes.
	Then Neil came on to rapturous applause - at which point Rik and Vyv
told
	him in no uncertain terms to Fuck Off. They wouldn't continue the show
	until everyone in the audience was screaming "Fuck off, Neil". The show
	lasted about two hours and remains the funniest live show I've ever been
	to.

	The second series first aired on BBC2 in spring 1984, and was still as
	popular as ever - BAMBI was the first in the second series and is
thought
	of as many as being the best. A South Bank Show profile of Ben Elton
showed
	one clip from the Young Ones, the train sequence where Neil is asking
Rik
	questions about Crop Rotation in the 14th Century. I've always thought
of
	this as the funniest scene from any of the episodes.

	They repeated the series in May of 1985, when many of my classmates were
	taken finals - this led to a few bad marks!"

	"Did you know that Nigel Planer did a tour in 1984 as Neil? It was just
	after the second series first got shown. I never got to go as it didn't
	come to Hull. It NEARLY did though - I was social sec for our ENTS
	committee and we were offered Neil. It was a bargain as well - just over
	1,000 pounds. I wanted it so badly, but the treasurer (now a very
	successful accountant) talked everyone else out of it, because we'd just
	had a financial disaster with another comedy show called "Brave New
	Comedy", which featured Paul Merton, Norman Lovett (Holly from Red
Dwarf),
	Arthur Brown ("and why not", he was in "Flood") and Nick Revell. It was
	very funny but nobody came, and that's why we didn't get Neil!"

                  9. When was it transmitted ?
                  ============================

First season premiere (on BBC2, 9:00pm to 9:30pm)
-------------------------------------------------
 Tuesday 9 November 1982 : Demolition
Tuesday 16 November 1982 : Oil
Tuesday 23 November 1982 : Bomb {Boring}
Tuesday 30 November 1982 : Boring {Bomb}
 Tuesday 7 December 1982 : Interesting
Tuesday 14 December 1982 : Flood

Average ratings for this series were 2,800,000 viewers.

    The concert tour was during Spring 1983, and hit Hull
University (one of the great universities of the UK :) in March.

Thursday  5 May 1983 : Demolition (repeat)
Thursday 12 May 1983 : Oil (repeat)
Thursday 19 May 1983 : Bomb (repeat)
Thursday 26 May 1983 : Boring (repeat)
Thursday 2 June 1983 : Interesting
Thursday 9 June 1983 : Flood

Second season premiere
----------------------
Tuesday   8 May 1984 : Bambi {Sick}
Tuesday  15 May 1984 : Cash
Tuesday  29 May 1984 : Nasty
Tuesday  5 June 1984 : Time {Sick}
Tuesday 12 June 1984 : Sick {Time}
Tuesday 19 June 1984 : Summer Holiday

The average ratings were 4,600,000.

Monday 18 March 1985 : Demolition (second repeat)
Monday 25 March 1985 : Oil (second repeat)
Monday  1 April 1985 : Bomb (second repeat)
Monday 15 April 1985 : Boring (second repeat)
Monday 22 April 1985 : Interesting (second repeat)
Monday 29 April 1985 : Flood (second repeat)

 Monday 13 May 1985 : Bambi (first repeat)
 Monday 20 May 1985 : Cash (first repeat)
Monday 10 June 1985 : Nasty (first repeat)
Monday 17 June 1985 : Sick (first repeat)
Monday 24 June 1985 : Time (first repeat)
Monday  1 July 1985 : Summer Holiday (first repeat)

   Saturday 29 April 1989 : Time (second repeat) (BBC2 9:55pm-10.30pm)
   Tuesday 29 August 1989 : Bambi (second repeat)
 Tuesday 5 September 1989 : Cash (second repeat)
Tuesday 12 September 1989 : Nasty (second repeat)
Tuesday 19 September 1989 : Sick (second repeat)
Tuesday 26 September 1989 : Summer Holiday (second repeat)

(This set of repeats had 6,500,000 viewers....)

The University Challenge clip from Bambi was repeated during the
1989 Comic Relief on 10 March 1989. This lead to the 2nd repeat of
Time later on in the year, as part of the BBC2 Anniversary screenings.
The success of this prompted the repeat of the other five episodes.

The titles in brackets are those listed wrongly in the Radio Times.

When SKY TV was launched, The Young Ones were regularly repeated, first on The
Comedy Channel and now on UK Gold.

The Young Ones was also shown on MTV US in 1986 (the ultimate accolade :),
SuperChannel, Comedy Central and Dutch television. It has on occasion been
repeated by Comedy Central.

	    10. What are these flash-frames I keep hearing about ?
		======================================================

As you may (or may not) know, the illusion of moving pictures (and hence
television) is created by flashing 25 pictures per second in front of your
eyes. If these pictures consecutively show someone moving, then the person
appears to move before your very eyes...

Of course this can be abused, as in the case of subliminal advertising (I'll
get there in a second, don't worry....) It was rumoured that 1950s films and TV
shows would occasionally throw up a message in just one frame saying "Drink
Coke" or something like that. Thus the subconscious brain would get the
message, whilst the conscious brain would remain completely unaware of this,
save perhaps a surprised blink of the eye.

A couple of pictures that are completely irrelevant to the plot of The Young
Ones pops up every once in a while during the programme.

In the second season, flash-frame images included a dove in flight, a jumping
frog, a skier, a dripping tap and the "The End" caption from Carry On Cowboy.

	                11. Reactions to the Young Ones
					===============================

Upon the first screening of the pilot episode to the BBC's Head of Variety, he
was apparently "completely baffled..." However, the programme was given a
go-ahead for its' first series since Channel 4 had just been created, and the
BBC was scared that Channel 4 would end up recruiting all the raw talent.

	                12. Looking back on the Young Ones
					==================================

Rik Mayall said he chose to use students because he wanted to use an excuse to
have four people sitting around all day for a sitcom, and he felt it wasn't the
right time to have a comedy series about people on the dole (unemployed). "I
wanted them to be privileged, and for people to hate them..."

Rik on his character: "Rick rants and raves, he's over-energetic, unpredictable
and quick tempered. I was a bit like that when I was, say, 15. I wouldn't say
he's popular though. For kids, he's just as easy to identify with. When people
come up to us in the street, Neil is the one they warm to. The back away from
me slightly..."

He also said in a recent interview to The Observer that: "There are few women
in those shows,  but the reason for that is that I fulfil the woman's role.
Adrian is the man and I am the woman. If you look at The Young Ones it was a
nuclear family. Mike was the dad, Neil was the mum, Vyv was the little boy and
Rick was the little girl, complete with pigtails."

(The following taken from an interview with Geoff Posner)

Though it appeared risky at the time to have Christopher Ryan as Mike, as Geoff
Posner points out : "Mike was very different to the others. He was the one who
always rose above the scrapes. He'd always find a way out ... In fact, the only
strange thing about any of the casting was Alexei Sayle. If you look at his
performances as the Balowski family they're very much of the 'I'm just dropping
in to do a bit, then I'm dropping out again' variety. They're unashamed
monologues which were completely unrelated to anything else. Luckily, they were
also very funny."

Reason for its' success : "Up until then, all sitcoms were full of nice people
being nice to each other. But suddenly here were four people who were
constantly arguing and hitting each other and although there was a lot of
criticism about the language and the violence, deep down at the root of it all
there was a basis of truth. Of course it was all exaggerated but ... if you
look at recent programmes like The Living Soap (BBC2's attempt at a Real
World), that is the way that some people behave when they live together."

Would it get made today?: "No, without a shadow of a doubt. Nowadays there's
too much emphasis on cost, on being accountable for everything. People would be
terrified of even trying it just in case it didn't get a favourable reaction
... These days at the BBC there is a hell of a lot of interference from people
who may or may not have experience in the field but who've graduated to senior
positions and feel their voice should be heard, and of course a project like
this can only be won because - as in Paul Jackson's case - it was an individual
vision that had been fought for."

         13. Little bit that don't fit in anywhere else?
         ===============================================

* Lots of bands were featured in the Young Ones. Why was this? Simply so the
  show came under the BBC's Entertainment budget rather than Variety, and
  accordingly got more money.

* There is an out-take available on the first Bloopers compilation - which is
  available from BBC Video I think. It's a clip from the beginning of Sick,
  where they're all in bed and Vyvian throws a bottle of Vodka into (Neils?)
  bedroom. In the outtake the burning rag falls out of the bottle whilst he's
  holding it, and sets fire to the bed!

* As part of the burping, punches and other sound effects, Ian Tomlin resorted
  to wiring up a microphone to his own baby's backside....

* There was a joke in BORING where a policeman thought someone was black, and
  subjected him to a torrent of racial abuse : "That's white man's electricity
  you're using, Mr Rastus Chocolate Drop" etc. Unfortuately, the production
  office got a letter from a teacher saying that while she understood the point
  of the joke, she found the one black boy in his class was having the same
  abuse levelled at him.

* The BAMBI episode won the Golden Rose at the Montreux Television Festival.

* Primus sampled a couple of Young Ones 'soundbites', notably when Adrian says
  'Shut up you bastard' and Rik replies 'You just called me a bastard didn't
  you?' on the last track of the album Sailing The Seas of Cheese...

* Neil made a cameo appearance on the 45 minute video of the making of Band
  Aid's "Do They Know It's Christmas?". Quite hilarious, apparently.

* There was a Young Ones computer game that came out in the mid-1980s for the
  Amstrad CPC, Spectrum and Commodore 64. It was a platform-type game (quelle
  surprise) - and if you went through the wardrobe, you ended up in Narnia! If
  you have a PC-compatible machine, you might want to try downloading and
  playing the game yourself thanks to a C64 emulator. It's available on
  http://arnold.hiof.no/ - just try to smash the VCR... :-)

* On a recent episode of University Challenge, a contestant, stumped for an
  answer, finally came up with "Toxteth O'Grady, U.S.A." for an answer. This
  brought the house down, apparently.

                          14. Spin-offs
                          =============

While there were no *OFFICIAL* sequels or anything like that, other British
comedies featuring the same actors or set in a university setting include :

American pilot?
---------------
According to Slogan (slogan@i-link.net) :

	"There was a pilot episode shot and aired of an American version of The
	Young Ones, called Oh, No! Not THEM!, and featured Nigel Planer as Neil,
	and it had a claymation opening credit sequence. Obviously, FOX didn't
make
	the series...

	In the pilot, they were all sleeping in one bed and Rick (not Mayall)
was
	having a dream about a hot punk girl and woke up and Neil asks him why
he
	didn't kiss her. Weird huh?"

FILTHY, RICH AND CATFLAP
------------------------
This was made after The Young Ones, starred Rik Mayall, Adrian Edmondson and
Nigel Planer, and was written by Ben Elton. It was intended to be its'
successor, and on the video cassette it exclaims "Aaagh! The Young Ones have
grown up - it's horrible!" Alas, rumour has it that it's not very good, though
a dickey bird says it is much better after repeated viewing and the jokes are
far more subtle in their own way than on The Young Ones. It has just been
released on BBC PAL Video, no. BBCV 4991. The video sleeve introduces it like
this :

	"Three pretty bloody fabulous and funny episodes starring showbiz
superstar
	and sex symbol Richie Rich (Rik Mayall) along with his freeloading,
	parasitic minder, Eddie Catflap (Adrian Edmonson) and wino agent Ralph
	Filthy (Nigel Planer)."

An episode guide of this is available from the TARDIS TV database at
http://www.tardis.ed.ac.uk/~dave/guides/index.html

GIRLS ON TOP
------------
Produced by Central Television in the mid-1980s, this starred Dawn French,
Jennifer Saunders, Ruby Wax and Tracey Ullmann as four girls sharing a flat,
with Joan Greenwood as their landlady. The press labelled it a female Young
Ones, though the writers tried to stay away from this label.

BLACKADDER GOES FORTH - PRIVATE PLANE
-------------------------------------
In this episode, Rik Mayall plays Lord Flash-heart, who comes to the rescue of
Edmund Blackadder, and meets Baron Von Richoften - played by Adrian Edmondson.
The scene plays an awful lot like the battles between Rik and Vyvyan :)

BOTTOM
------
This was made in the 1990s. Rik Mayall and Adrian Edmondson wrote and starred
in the series as Richard Richard (erm...) and Eddie Hitler (now hang on!). The
similarities between Richard and Rik, and Eddie and Vyvyan are rather
striking...

MEN BEHAVING BADLY
------------------
Another sitcom made in the late 1990s and still going, it's about two "lads"
and their lives. Starring Neil Morrissey and Martin Clunes, it's become a
cultural phenomenon in the UK, with their laddish antics and their relationship
with the two women upstairs, Leslie Ash and Caroline Quentin. An American
version will be made on NBC for Autumn 1996...

A VERY PECULIAR PRACTICE
------------------------
While this is *NOT* an out-and-out comedy like The Young Ones, I found it
rather amusing. This stars Peter Davison as a innocent idealistic doctor thrust
into a University medical centre complete with cynical hard-bittened
characters.

                  15. Other articles on the Net
                  =============================

As stated at the beginning, the first part of the FAQ contains the essential
basic information on the FAQ. Ask me for a copy, or see below... There is also
an edited episode guide available from
http://www.tardis.ed.ac.uk/~dave/guides/index.html

The scripts for most of the episodes are now available from FTP or WWW sites,
as is a transcription of the B-side to Living Doll, (ALL THE LITTLE FLOWERS
ARE) HAPPY.

All these files can be found via:
FTP - src.doc.ic.ac.uk/public/media/tv/collections/tardis/uk/comedy/YoungOnes/
WWW - http://pobox.com/~brit-com/Comedy/index.html
      http://src.doc.ic.ac.uk/public/media/tv/collections/tardis/

I also compile the Rik Mayall FAQ, Adrian Edmondson FAQ, and the Ben Elton FAQ.
I did have a copy of an interview I did with Christopher Ryan but that seems to
have mysteriously disappeared... If you can't find it, let me know!

If you have any material, please let me know so I can incorporate it here.
All comments, brickbats and additions gratefully received !

                   16. Contributors and thanks
                   ===========================

* Paul Herzog for transcribing quite a few scripts.
* Bill Houston and his friend for transcribing NASTY.
* James Kew for co-ordinating most of this stuff on ze 'Net...
* Alexander Lum for his valiant efforts to produce a FAQ.
* Kristen Mirenda (mirenda@panix.com) for transcribing BAMBI and CASH, other
  items and pointing out other factual errors.
* Kristin Sabo for giving me some source information.

Thanks also go to Michael Barrows, Roderick Begbie, Gareth Blinkhorn, Michael
Brown, Paul Burgin, Greg Cawthorn, Paul Claypole, Nick Cole, Julian Cracknell,
Andrew Darby, Jon Drukman, Matthew Estella, Graham Hawkins, Paul Herzog, Pete
Houston, Stuart Jackson, James Kew, Paul Lee, Rachael Munns, Greg O'Beirne,
Russ Perry Jnr., James Poole, Steve Rapport, Simon Rowell, Annie Sattler,
Adrian and Drew Savage, Stephen Slater, Michelle Street and Brett Wimpory.

Other pieces of info were ripped off from various sources, including:

* Deadline Magazine (November 1994)
* Didn't You Kill Your Mother-In-Law:The story of alternative comedy
* Times Educational Supplement (30 December 1983)

I would like to thank all the above, and anyone else I haven't named for their
help and contributions. Get your name on this esteemed list! Ask a question, or
provide an answer.

--------
That concludes the Young Ones FAQ. All opinions are mine unless otherwise
stated, and I take no legal responsibility for any crossed lines that occur as
a result of this docuemnt :)

If you want any British items, I can endeavour to get them for you, and
I can accept most currencies. Give me a call...

If you have any queries, questions, corrections or comments, please
write to me at achwong@pobox.com

This FAQ was postcard-ware - if you truly enjoyed it, then I would
appreciate a postcard from you! My address is:
			10 Gerllan
			Tywyn
			Gwynedd
			LL36 9DE
			UNITED KINGDOM

My name was Andrew Wong, thank you and goodnight !

Andrew Wong		     WWW: http://pobox.com/~achwong/Comedy/index.html
-----x-----		Internet: achwong@pobox.com
Rick: "Honestly, I don't know why I        Take a look at the British Comedy
       bother sometimes..."                Library for FAQs, biogs, sounds,
 Vyv: "I don't know why you bother ever."  images, and interviews.

