50 Fun Facts About The Young Ones TV Series

Which third writer, then Mayall's girlfriend, co-wrote The Young Ones with him and Ben Elton?

Elton had been at Manchester University with Mayall and Edmondson.

On which channel did The Young Ones air, for two series in 1982 and 1984?

The BBC rushed it out a week after Channel 4's launch, on 9 November 1982, partly in response to the new rival.

How many episodes of The Young Ones were made in total?

Two series of six; eleven of the twelve featured a live band performing in the house or street.

Which character, played by Adrian Edmondson, was the violent punk medical student?

He owned a talking Glaswegian hamster called Special Patrol Group and a flame-painted Ford Anglia.

What was the name of the punk housemate's talking Glaswegian hamster?

'SPG' for short, he was regularly subjected to Vyvyan's extreme violence.

Rik Mayall's character Rick was a self-proclaimed anarchist and devoted fan of which singer?

Ben Elton said the character was based on the 'try-hard wanna-be Leftie' found on every campus.

Neil, played by Nigel Planer, was a morose hippie studying what?

He ended up doing all the chores while the others ignored him unless something needed blaming on someone.

Which cast member was the only one of the five who was NOT a stand-up comedian?

He replaced Peter Richardson, who quit after clashing with producer Paul Jackson, and played Mike the Cool Person.

Where were the four students supposedly enrolled?

Their squalid house was at 15 Credibility Street.

What was the students' fictional home address?

Exteriors were actually shot in Bishopston, Bristol, at the top of Codrington Road.

The fifth regular cast member mostly played the students' landlord. What was the landlord's name?

He affected a Russian accent to sound more sophisticated; Sayle often broke character to address the audience in his own Liverpool voice.

Why did the producers include a live band in almost every episode?

Variety attracted higher fees than comedy; the one band-free episode used a lion tamer instead to keep the classification.

Which band appeared in two episodes of The Young Ones?

Others included Amazulu, Nine Below Zero, Rip Rig + Panic and John Otway.

Which band performed 'Ace of Spades' in the living room in the episode 'Bambi'?

The four rush past them, still in dirty clothes, to catch a train to the University Challenge studio.

The episode 'Bambi' parodies which student quiz show?

Griff Rhys Jones played the host as a spoof of Bamber Gascoigne, with Mel Smith cameoing as a security guard.

In 'Bambi', which of these did NOT play a member of the Footlights College, Oxbridge team?

Ben Elton completed the team as Kendal Mintcake; Vyvyan eventually blew them all up with a stick grenade.

Which comedian played the quiz host 'Bambi', a spoof of Bamber Gascoigne?

Alexei Sayle later argued the episode's Oxbridge guest stars had a detrimental effect on alternative comedy.

The show's title and theme song come from a 1961 hit by whom?

The cast sang the theme themselves; the song was the title track of the film of the same name.

Which 1959 hit did the cast record with its original singer for Comic Relief in 1986?

It topped the UK, Australian and New Zealand charts; Alexei Sayle refused to take part on principle.

Why did the show's landlord actor refuse to join the 1986 Comic Relief single?

He had already had his own hit in 1984 with ''Ullo John! Gotta New Motor?'.

Nigel Planer, in character as Neil, reached number 2 in 1984 with a cover of which Traffic song?

It came from Neil's Heavy Concept Album, produced with Canterbury-scene keyboardist Dave Stewart.

The Young Ones was the first non-music programme to air on which US channel, in 1985?

Edited versions ran that summer and made it a cult hit; Conan O'Brien has cited it as an influence.

Most of the show's exterior scenes were filmed in which English city, despite the north London setting?

The student house is on Codrington Road in Bishopston, and the Fascist Pig bank was around the corner on Gloucester Road.

What was the name of the pub where the punk housemate's mum worked?

In real life it was the Cock of the North in Bristol, since renamed the Westbury Park Tavern.

Who did Adrian Edmondson say played the mysterious 'fifth housemate' in early episodes?

Director Geoff Posner said he and Paul Jackson thought a never-explained ghostly figure would be fun; Ben Elton claimed to have no idea what anyone was talking about.

According to one of the show's co-writers, how did the fifth housemate come to be there?

She said so in the 2018 documentary How the Young Ones Changed Comedy.

The second series used 'flash frames' in each episode to mock the public's fear of what?

It sat alongside the puppets, cutaways and constant breaking of the fourth wall.

Rik Mayall joked that the household was a nuclear family. Which character did he say was 'the mother'?

Mike was the father, Vyvyan the rebellious son and Rick, with his pigtail, the daughter.

Which London club, founded by the cast with French and Saunders, drew Channel 4's attention?

It ran in the Raymond Revuebar in Soho after The Comedy Store got too popular.

Mayall and Edmondson worked as which double act on the club circuit before the show?

They had first performed together as 20th Century Coyote; Nigel Planer's double act with Peter Richardson was The Outer Limits.

Which producer's clash with Peter Richardson led to Richardson leaving the show before it was made?

Jackson later said the finished show was met with 'complete disbelief' at the BBC.

What did Mike order £180 worth of in the chemist's, out of 'force of habit'?

The scene was filmed outside a real chemist's in Bedminster, Bristol, renamed 'OK Chemists' for the day.

Which 1987 sitcom reunited Mayall, Edmondson and Planer, written by Ben Elton?

Mayall and Edmondson then made Bottom, which shared much of The Young Ones' violent DNA.

Which Mayall and Edmondson sitcom ran 1991-95 as the successor to The Young Ones?

Christopher Ryan turned up in that show too, as well as in Happy Families and Absolutely Fabulous.

Which spoof metal band did Edmondson create for his Channel 4 films with Peter Richardson?

He also played the offensive South African TV star Eddie Monsoon.

Adrian Edmondson is married to which comedian, with whom he starred in Ben Elton's Happy Families?

The 1985 rural comedy told the story of the dysfunctional Fuddle family.

The actor who played Mike later appeared in Doctor Who as General Staal, a member of which alien race?

He also played Kiv in 1986's The Trial of a Time Lord.

The show's landlord actor had a 1984 top-20 hit called what?

He was born in Anfield, Liverpool, to parents who were both Communist Party members.

Which university did Mayall, Edmondson and Ben Elton all attend?

The Comedy Store's Oxbridge rivals got their moment as the Footlights College team in 'Bambi'.

Where did The Young Ones place in the BBC's 2004 Best Sitcom poll?

Not bad for a show the BBC met with 'complete disbelief' when the tapes came in.

Which Swedish title was The Young Ones broadcast under in 1985?

In the Basque Country it aired as Gazteak, and in Catalonia Vyvyan was dubbed with a thick rural accent.

Who wrote the end-credits theme and much of the incidental music?

The opening theme, by contrast, was the cast murdering the Cliff Richard original.

Which comedian argued in the Guardian that 'Bambi' damaged alternative comedy by showcasing the Cambridge Footlights?

The self-described Marxist saw the Oxbridge guest stars as the establishment creeping in.

Which American talk-show host cited The Young Ones as an influence during a Q&A at the Oxford Union?

MTV's edited repeats in the summer of 1985 made the show a US cult hit.

In the episode 'Interesting', Neil's friend (also called Neil) emerges from where?

Mark Dewison played him, and Rick ends up shoving him into the fridge.

The one episode with no musical act met the BBC's variety rule by featuring which performer instead?

Eleven of the twelve episodes had a band in the house or street; the tamer's presence also fed the plot.

Roughly how long were the original episodes of The Young Ones produced to run?

They were trimmed to half an hour for later BBC and satellite repeats, losing scenes and dialogue.

On which US channel did The Young Ones begin airing, edited for content, on 5 June 1985?

It later ran on PBS, USA Network's Night Flight, Comedy Central and BBC America.

Which Shadows guitarist joined Cliff Richard and the cast on the 1986 Comic Relief 'Living Doll'?

The single topped the UK, Australian and New Zealand charts.

What is the goal of the 1986 Young Ones video game?

Players pick Mike, Neil, Vyvyan or Rick while the computer-run housemates wreck things in character.