All six episodes from the anarchic 1980s comedy series. In ‘Demolition’ the council want to knock the boys’ house down. ‘Oil’ sees the foursome move into their new house just as the workers’ revolution begins. ‘Interesting’ finds Rick, Vyv, Neil and Mike playing host to the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. ‘Bomb’ has a bomb land on the house just as the TV licence man arrives. ‘Flood’ sees Rick initiate a desperate game of hide-and-seek, while Mike’s room is taken over by lions. Finally, ‘Boring’ finds the foursome so incredibly bored that Neil digs himself a grave and Vyv chops his finger off.
“A horrible, vile, disgusting sitcom about four students who live in the most revolting house in Britain”, The Young Ones became an instant BBC comedy landmark in 1982 by launching an all-out assault on the moribund sitcom, mixing Monty Python-esque madness with post-punk anarchy. There are no real stories, only a succession of often hysterically funny scenes as ingenious gags collide with deliberately corny lines, cartoon-like ultra-violence, pop music breaks, surreal interludes with characters ranging from the Three Bears to the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, and gross-out moments based on various bodily functions and substances.
Rik Mayall, Adrian Edmondson, Nigel Planer and Christopher Ryan are the four housemates: Rick (Cliff Richard-worshipping radical sociology student), Vyvan (violence-loving punk medical student), Neil (put-upon suicidal hippie) and Mike (self-styled cool guy). Alexei Sayle appears regularly playing various mad Russians. Taking a cue from National Lampoon’s Animal House (1978) the show now seems to anticipate the teen gross-out flicks of the late 1990s but to far more amusing effect. In retrospect The Young Ones is cheerfully un-politically correct in a way which may shock more now than 20 years ago; certainly some of the insults and drug-taking would have trouble getting on TV today. The first series was followed by a second equally hilarious series; Mayall and Edmondson played essentially similar characters in Filthy, Rich and Catflap (1987) and Bottom (1991-5).
On the DVD: The Young Ones on disc has disappointingly no extra features except optional English subtitles. The sound is full, clear mono and the 4:3 picture is as good as can be expected from a 1980s BBC comedy shot on video and certainly far better than the show appeared when it was broadcast.
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