The Young Ones

The Young Ones is a British sitcom written by Rik Mayall, Ben Elton, and Lise Mayer, starring Adrian Edmondson, Mayall, Nigel Planer, Christopher Ryan, and Alexei Sayle, and broadcast on BBC Two for two series, first shown in 1982 and 1984. The show focused on the lives of four dissimilar students and their landlord's family on different plots that often included anarchic, offbeat, surreal humour. The show often included slapstick gags, visual humour and surreal jokes sometimes acted out by puppets, with each episode also featuring a notable selection of guest stars and musical numbers from various performers. The Young Ones helped bring alternative comedy to British television in the 1980s and made household names of its writers and performers. The show became a notable icon of 1980s British popular culture, and it received its own game and a home-media release while becoming the first non-music-related programme to appear on MTV in the United States in 1985. The show was voted number 31 in the BBC's Best Sitcom poll in 2004. History In the early 1980s, much of the programme's cast performed on London's comedy club circuit, gaining significant popularity at The Comedy Store—Alexei Sayle was the prominent act, drawing attention as the manic, aggressive compere; Adrian Edmondson and Rik Mayall worked together in the troupe 20th Century Coyote and later became the double act The Dangerous Brothers; and Nigel Planer worked in the double act "The Outer Limits" alongside Peter Richardson. All principal members later opted to make their own club as The Comedy Store became popular, and they formed The Comic Strip in the Raymond Revuebar club in Soho with French and Saunders and Arnold Brown. The new club proved immensely popular amongst London's comedy venues and brought the group to the attention of Jeremy Isaacs, head of the new Channel 4.