Subject: British Comedy: The Young Ones FAQ (2/2) v1.35
Date: 2 Apr 1996 18:57:30 GMT
Summary: This is an information file on the British cult television comedy The Young ones
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.2 PL2]

Posting-Frequency: monthly
Last updated: 10 March 1996
Version: 1.36
URL: http://www.brad.ac.uk/%7Eachwong/Comedy/YoungOne2.html

                    YOUNG ONES FAQ (2/2) v 1.36
                    ===========================

         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 want part one,
which has the main information, E-mail me for 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 amoebas

1c. Ben Elton
-------------
      DEMOLISH: the presenter of Nozin' Around
         BAMBI: Kendal Mintcake, the Oxbridge oik who was given 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 UK 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 pounds (US $3000) can be charged. At the moment, a year's
licence costs around 80 pounds (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?

If you require a more detailed gag-guide, then The Young Ones
Anglo/American Gag Guide is available from Steve Gardner
(esgardner@delphi.com)

                        3. Quotable Lines
                        =================

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

Rik & Vyv : "Neil, your bedroom's on fire !" - OIL

Neil : "No way man ! Everyone knows sleep gives you CANCER!" - OIL

Neil : "I just looked at it and it blew up !" - BORING

Policeman : "That's white man's electricity you're using." - BORING
            (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." - BORING

Neil : "It's like the kettle killed itself rather than be used by me..." - BOMB

Mike : "If people weren't sick, we wouldn't need penicillin" - BOMB

Mike : "A social conscience is like a garden fence, you try to eat
        it, it'll get stuck in your throat." - BOMB

Rick : "No, YOU put my address down. Rick, 15 Credibility Street"
       (at the Social Security office, BOMB)

Rick : "Tomorrow everyone in England will be free, and there will be no more
        social prejudice or hatred. GET UP NEIL, I HATE YOU !!!!!!!" - BOMB

Neil's hippie friend Neil : "My barely adequate psychic defences
                             are crumbling !" - INTERESTING

Rick : "You bought me a present! It's a telescope -- a telescope
        with a mouse in it!" - INTERESTING

Professor Jim Morrison : "Wow, what is this stuff - tobacco or ...
                          Pink Floyd ?" - INTERESTING

Neil's hippie friend Neil : "Wow - it's so uncoool !" - INTERESTING

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." - BORING

Rick : "God, I'm bored. Might as well be listening to Genesis" - FLOOD

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) - FLOOD

 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." - FLOOD

Mr. Balowski : "Ah, Coca-Cola, symbol of free West!" - FLOOD

Rick : "There's no one in here, Mr. Balowski! We're all holograms !" - FLOOD

Neil : "Oh, well, out of one frying pan, into another frying pan." - FLOOD

Vyv : "You haven't got a sister, Rick! You're the classic
       example of an only child." - BAMBI

Vyv : "This calls for a very special blend of psychology and
       extreme violence." - BAMBI

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

Neil : "Socks aren't vegetables,man, they should be wiped out !" - BAMBI

Rick : "Hands up who likes me !" - BAMBI

 Miss Money-Sterling : "I've got a Porsche -bwaha haha ha"
(a.k.a. Emma Thompson) - BAMBI

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?" - CASH

Neil : "Boom shanka...May the seed of your loins be fruitful in the
        belly of your woman." - CASH

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!" - NASTY

Rick: "Neil, the bathroom's free! Unlike the country under the
       Thatcherite junta." - NASTY

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?" (NASTY)

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

Vyv : "YES !! WE'VE GOT A VIDEO !!!" - NASTY

Mike : "I hate to say anything negative, but no." - NASTY

Vyv : "Rick, shut up or I'll kill you." - NASTY

Neil : "Flares are coming back in -- I read it in my horoscope!" - NASTY

Rick : "Neil, how are you keeping that flowerpot up?!?" - NASTY

Rick : "Oh, no. The front door's exploded." - NASTY

Vyv : "'Vyvyan, Vyvyan, Vyvyan!' Honestly, whenever anything
       explodes in this house, it's always 'blame Vyvyan!'" (NASTY)

Rick : "What, me, Rick, a virgin? Try telling that to some of the
        foxy chicks who owe me favours." - NASTY

Rick : "So in fact, all four of us have stayed up for the entire
        night. Now that's what I call anarchy!" - NASTY

Neil : "Oh no, I'll die if I miss 'Scooby-Doo'!" - TIME

Rick : "And that's Vyvyan....being sick" - TIME

Mike : "Last one to find the jungle animal has to take off all
        their clothes. (to Helen Mucus) All right, your turn."
       (TIME)

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

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

Mr. Balowski : "Aw, some sod broke your chair! That's 20 pounds you
                owe me." - SUMMER HOLIDAY

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 !!!"
        (SUMMER HOLIDAY)

          4. Rick's (The People's Poet) Peoples' 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 all went to 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.

- 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?"

I've never seen him before....He could be a member of the crew.. On
the other hand, it could be Neil.
    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 thinks "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.....

                    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...

    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.
This is the principle behind the new Coke advert.... :)

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 anm 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 pretended 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 also apparently a Young Ones computer game, released for the
Spectrum and Amstrad CPC around the mid-1980s. Apparently, it was a
platform-type game (quelle surprise) - you had to collect things, but if
you walked through the wardrobe you'd end up in Narnia...

                          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 :

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:

WWW = 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... The Bottom FAQ is
available from FTP sites, or Melinda Casino (casino@pobox.upenn.edu)

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. If you have this on PAL format
please call me !

                  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:

WWW:  http://www.tardis.ed.ac.uk/~dave/guides/index.html

The scripts for most of the episodes are now available from the FTP
or WWW sites. If you can't access them, ask me or consult James Kew
(j.kew@ic.ac.uk) and his alt.comedy.british FAQ.

The B-side to Living Doll, (ALL THE LITTLE FLOWERS ARE) HAPPY is
also available on the FTP site, transcribed by Greg O'Beirne
(gobeirne@tartarus.uwa.edu.au)

All these files can be found by FTPing to:

cathouse.org/pub/cathouse/ 
src.doc.ic.ac.uk/public/media/tv/collections/tardis/uk/comedy/YoungOnes/

Or using your WWW browser and pointing it to:

http://hammers.wwa.com/hammers
http://cathouse.org:8000/BritishComedy/
http://src.doc.ic.ac.uk/public/media/tv/collections/tardis/
http://www.brad.ac.uk/~achwong/comgfx.html

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!

For further explanaitions of the jokes, consult Steve Gardner's Anglo/
American Gag Guide to The Young Ones. E-mail esgardner@delphi.com

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, 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 and Michelle Street.

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 have any queries, questions, corrections or comments, please
write to me : achwong@bradford.ac.uk

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

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://www.brad.ac.uk/%7Eachwong/comgfx.html
-----x-----.       Internet: achwong@bradford.ac.uk
Rick: "Honestly, I don't know why I      Take a look at the Web page for
       bother sometimes..."              the Young Ones FAQ and other biogs.
 Vyv: "I don't know why you bother ever." Ask me for more details !
